summon
/ˈsʌmən
/verb [with object]
1Order (someone) to be present: a waiter was summoned...
- She studied him as he summoned the waitress and ordered more tea, and found what she saw to her liking.
- She's been looking for a new job for over 2 years so when she found out she'd got this one, she summoned me round immediately to drink champagne with her.
- It tasted great too, so it was with heavy heart that I summoned a waiter over and told him I had never ordered rabbit before and I simply did not like the taste.
Synonyms
send for, call for, ask for, request the presence of, demand the presence of;
ask, invite
archaic bid
1.1Authoritatively call on (someone) to be present as a defendant or witness in a law court: if the person summoned does not appear he may be arrested...
- Two months before I was due to leave the area I was summoned as a witness to give evidence at the High Court in defence of a patient.
- In order to do this effectively it may be given powers equivalent to those of the High Court to summon witnesses, send for documents, administer oaths, etc.
- Following a raid on Chang's residence and office on Friday, prosecutors summoned him to appear for questioning yesterday.
Synonyms
serve with a summons, summons, cite, serve with a citation, serve with a writ, subpoena
1.2Urgently demand (help): she summoned medical assistance...
- Several people reported that it was only when a symptom in common with the previous acute myocardial infarction occurred that they summoned medical help.
- ‘Not one of the boys went to his aid, or thereafter summoned help, or displayed any concern for their hapless victim,’ said Mr Martin.
- In the bedroom and bathroom are other safety gadgets - alarms that automatically summon help if the floor floods, or if the wearer takes a fall.
1.3Call people to attend (a meeting): he summoned a meeting of head delegates...
- The holding has filed in court several objections; the main being that the meeting was summoned by a management not listed in the Trade Register.
- He summoned a family meeting to plot a fightback.
- Manda proposed that the ZRFU should summon a meeting of councillors to discuss the change of tenure of office from two to four years and then hold elections for new office bearers.
Synonyms
convene, assemble, order, call, muster, rally, levy, round up;
announce, declare
formal convoke
2Make an effort to produce (a particular quality or reaction) from within oneself: she managed to summon up a smile...
- Wanderers didn't strain every sinew and summon every ounce of effort to gain promotion just to spend a season in the Premiership playing for sympathy.
- He summons every bit of his charisma to inject his character with life, and make his CIA agent a cinematic treat and based on reality in equal parts.
- He said he was summoning his years of physical and spiritual training as a fighting monk.
Synonyms
muster, gather, collect, rally, call into action, mobilize, screw up
2.1 (summon something up) Call an image to mind: names that summon up images of far-off places...
- As he searches his notebooks, images from earlier films are summoned up.
- What distinguishes this work from her previous evocations of food is her absolute dedication to summoning it up intensely.
- I know it constitutes an effort to summon up a sense of everyday life in a small town that is not precisely like every other in Germany.
Synonyms
call to mind, bring to mind, call up/forth, conjure up, evoke, recall, revive, invoke, raise, arouse, kindle, awaken, excite, stir up, spark (off), provoke
Derivatives
summonable
- It means the summonable monsters have a shot of being in this game!
- I've been surprised by the fact that the summonable beasts’ attacks are FMVs, as good-looking as the Advent Children movie, if not better.
- Only 2 pets can be in a stable at any given time while a third is unstabled and summonable at the hunter's command.
summoner
- Chaucer's habit of poking fun at pardoners and summoners is not so much an example of impiety as a way of demonstrating how much virtue he has to spare.
- Certainly he is the guardian of ghosts, the lord of black ink, the prince of parchment and a summoner of souls.
- Clocking in at just over a dozen jobs, players will have warriors, red, black, and white mages, paladins, thieves, samurai, ninjas, dragoons, monks, summoners, beast masters, and dark knights at their disposal.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French somondre, from Latin summonere 'give a hint', later 'call, summon', from sub- 'secretly' + monere 'warn'.
The source of summon is Latin summonere, originally meaning ‘give a hint’ but later used in the sense ‘call, summon’. It was formed from sub- ‘secretly’ and monere ‘warn’.