Midsumer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A season that occurs at the midpoint of summer, often marked by festivals and celebrations
2. The time during the summer solstice, when days are longest and nature is in full bloom
3. A period traditionally associated with warmth and merriment, representing abundance and the peak of the growing season

Etymology: The spelling in your request is a common slip for "midsummer," so this covers that word. It comes from Old English "midsumor," combining "mid," meaning middle, with "sumor," summer. The Old English compound already meant the middle of the summer season, and "sumor" descends from the same Germanic root that gave German "Sommer." The date people celebrate it is not the solstice. In the medieval church calendar, the feast of John the Baptist fell on 24 June, six months before Christmas, and Midsummer Day became fixed to that date. Roughly a week after the solstice, it became a fixed point on the calendar, and it was long one of England's quarter days, when rents and contracts fell due.

Synonyms: midsummer