Indian summer
1
4.7
- noun
- /ˈɪndiən ˈsʌmər/
:
verano de San Martín
- They knew that the sun would be back, even an Indian summer before winter set in.
- Indian summer day
- Indian summer afternoon
- Indian summer weather
Examples
-
Then they had the long sweetness of Indian summer.
Fiction book (1993) -
The golden sky of Indian summer, a bright September day just outside Newport harbor.
Fiction book (1999) -
So given all this background, why would this year have a normal Indian summer?
Blog text (2) -
Labor Day weekend had gone, and Indian summer was coming, whatever that is.
Fiction book (1998) -
It was October, Indian summer, and the air was still warm in the afternoon sun.
Fiction book (2001) -
"We're having a touch of Indian summer and it's supposed to be glorious, in the eighties with a big blue sky."
Fiction book (1998) -
Late October delivered the first kill frost, followed by a balmy Indian summer that brought a lassitude to the land and to us.
Fiction book (1998) -
It was a peaceful Indian summer day with the temperature in the low seventies.
Fiction book (1999) -
Beginning Oct. 20, weathermen began to talk about how the next week would feature Indian summer, a phenomenon that typically occurs in October, and signals the last good stretch of weather before fall and reality take over.
Blog text (2) -
We enjoyed a picnic in the warm sun during a lovely Indian summer day in late October.
Synonyms
A short period of unusually warm weather in autumn, often in November
How Warm
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning — a late period of renewed success or an unseasonably warm spell after decline — cannot be derived from 'Indian' (pertaining to India) + 'summer' (the warm season). A B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely take it literally (a summer related to India) and not infer the temporal/figurative sense; the idiom is culturally specific and unpredictable.
Etymology
Indian summer may come from early North American settlers who saw a calm, warm, dry spell in autumn that helped Native Americans finish hunting and harvesting. That's why the phrase means 'a short, unusually warm period in autumn'.