summer n also sommer. Cp OED ~ sb1 1 'the second and warmest season of the year' for sense 1; OED 2 now only poet. for sense 2; cp EDD sb1 1 (34) ~ lodge 'a fisherman's hut' Sh I for sense 4; for combs. in sense 5: DAE 1 (1789 quot for ~ fish); DC ~ road (1820-); NID ~ time 'chiefly Brit'; cp FALL n, SPRING2, WINTER.
1 The principal season, beginning in May or June, for the prosecution of the cod and other fisheries and the processing of the catch on shore; FISHING SEASON, SEASON.
1612 Willoughby Papers 1/15, 11 All this sommer I have assisted Master roberts in the fishing vaige what possible I could. 1620 WHITBOURNE 42 Hee is to have a single share allowed unto every man alike of such fish as is taken, whilest they labour together in the Summer time with the ships company with whom they are. [1663] 1963 YONGE 56 The masters pay in fish at the end of the summer. [1669] ibid 120 Nothing happened memorable in the season but that I got by private practice above 4 score pounds, that we made a reasonable voyage, so that I think for my summer's work I might have above £100. [1706] 1895 PROWSE 266 The English have at all times used this Fishery on the Eastern coast and in Harbours and Fishing places on that side, wherein they are protected against the French in the Summer Season by yearly convoys and men of war sent thither. 1895 Christmas Review 12 [proverb] Slave in the summer—sleep in the winter. 1924 ENGLAND 321 ~ The cod-fishing season, or work. 1936 SMITH 71 It generally takes a crew a week to get ready properly for the summer's work. All the men had then to go up the bay in boats to secure enough wood for cooking purposes. 1960 FUDGE 7 This was the first two hundred dollars made at the cod fishery business in Fortune Bay and it was considered a big summer. P 9-73 With a load of codfish from their Summer's work [they] were on their way south.
2 In pl, with numeral, used for year.
1936 SMITH 27 Little did I think then that I was going to buy a fishing room there and spend thirty-two summers of my life fishing. 1977 Decks Awash vi (3), p. 50 Before my father died I used to go across the Bay fishing with him in a 'bully,' and after he died my uncle took over the bully and we went across the Bay for three summers. 1977 RUSSELL 16 He went fishin' when he was seven or eight years old and hasn't had a summer ashore since—that's seventy-five summers fishin'.
3 Phr lose one's summer, lose one's time in summer: to experience a failure at fishing; cp SPRING.
1612 Willoughby Papers 1/15, 11 I have loussed my tyme this summer. [1919] P 124-71 To proceed at once would cause these humble folk to lose their summer at the fishery. 1937 DEVINE 33 To lose one's summer. To be out of employment during the season named, or to come off with a loss or poorly from the season's work. 1967 Bk of Nfld iv, 237 People who through illness 'lost their summer' would be looked after by the more fortunate.
4 Designating a structure or location from which the seasonal cod-fishery is conducted: summer house, ~ place, ~ shack, ~ station [see STATION], ~ tilt [see TILT].
[1822] 1928 CORMACK 107 I was here fortunate in finding a very respectable industrious inhabitant ... still occupying his summer house at the shore, with his fishing-boat or shallop not yet dismantled for the winter. 1836 [WIX]2 53 A very decent young man, B.L. and his wife, having only left their winter tilts that morning, had cleaned up their neat summer house, and lighted a good fire. 1977 Inuit Land Use 209 The three generations of Perraults maintained ... a summer house at Newfoundland Cove. 1901 Christmas Bells 8 Summer hut, Holton, Labrador. [1918-19] GORDON 40 Bob and two Woody Point men also went off to Plant's Bight for the night, but Jim and I decided to see it out in an old summer shack on the point. 1814 KOHLMEISTER & KMOCH 10 We found several of our Esquimaux, who had here their summer-station. 1842 BONNYCASTLE ii, 125 But even this hut is good, compared with some of the summer tilts, which are constructed to carry on the fishery in the little harbours and coves, where, very often, a huge boulder or projecting rock forms the gable, or actual rere-dosse, as our ancestors called the only chimney, or substitute for a chimney, and from this chimney-rock, a few slight poles built up erect in an oblong form, with a pole-roof sloping against a bank, or rock, the whole covered with bark, when it can be had, which is seldom, or with turf; and with turf piled up against the side walls, without a window, and with only an apology for a door; and the whole interior scarcely affording standing room.
5 Attrib, comb summer agent: man in charge of a merchant's fishing premises.
1936 SMITH 42 A few minutes later we were safely anchored off the salt store at Indian Harbour, all well... When we did get ashore there were six feet of snow from the wharf up to the winter man's residence. Messrs Job Bros & Co owned Indian Harbour in those days, and Mr Joseph Simms was their summer agent.
summer cod-fish, ~ fish: cod taken in coastal waters in the summer fishery.
[1676] 1895 PROWSE 206 From England Ireland France & Spain & Portugal & New Eng'd have vessels come to Newfoundland in November & Dec'r & have loaden oyle summer fish & winter fish out of the houses & gone out some of them three days before Christmas. 1957 South Coast Commission 81 East of [Hermitage and Fortune Bay] the summer codfish population seems to be largely those which winter at St Pierre Bank and in channels between St Pierre Bank and Grand Bank [and] which migrate inshore in the spring.
summer fishery: principal cod-fishery; cp SPRING2: ~ FISHERY.
[1653] 1895 PROWSE 167 You are upon the close of this summers fishery to returne back into England. [1676] ibid 207 [They] have by leave of the former Governors and Proprietors erected severall stages and Roomes for their winter and summer fisheries and support. [1802] ibid 419 About fifty pounds weight of strong twine will be required to make a [seal] net, the half worn small hawsers, which the boats have used in the summer fishery, serve for foot ropes. 1910 GRENFELL 201 We had just been doctoring among the numbers of fishermen that make this their headquarters for the summer fishery. 1936 SMITH 13 Finally the paddle-boat Cabot came alongside and gave us a big hawser and towed us up to Rogerson's wharf, where we took salt and supplies for the summer fishery. We left St John's 25th May for Brigus and arrived in good time. 1975 POCIUS 8 In communities along Conception Bay, sheep were set loose at the beginning of the summer before the family moved to Labrador for the summer fishery.
summer herring: herring schools which migrate to inshore waters in summer; cp SPRING2: ~ HERRING.
1873 CARROLL 38 Up to the present date many and various were the opinions given, both written and verbal, as to the best possible mode of preserving the Spring, Summer, and Fall Herrings that resort to this Island.
summer inhabitant: migratory fisherman or servant from the British Isles engaged for a specified period in the Newfoundland fishery; cp SERVANT.
[1794] 1968 THOMAS 174 Summer Inhabitants who came from England and Ireland 28,018.
summer mole: freckle (1937 DEVINE 50).
summer people: migratory fishermen from Newfoundland conducting seasonal operation in Labrador waters; FLOATER, STATIONER.
1975 Them Days i (1), 37 The English teachers were always such wonderful teachers. They taught us how to speak properly. When the summer people came, the Newfoundland fishermen, we would slip into their way of talking.
summer road: road opened into a wood-cutting area and suitable for use throughout the year.
T 43/8-64 When you're cut back to the back of his block, you're shifted to a new road. There was no summer roads then. All the work was done in the winter.
summer time: daylight-saving time.
[1929] 1979 Evening Telegram 3 May, p. 13 Summer time will come into effect May 5 when the gun on Signal Hill will be fired at 10 p.m. to notify the public to advance the time to 11 p.m.
