Summertides

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The seasonal intervals during summer characterized by the cyclical rise and fall of ocean water levels due to gravitational forces
2. Times or periods chiefly associated with summer that coincide with changes in tide levels in coastal areas
3. The natural phenomena in summertime that involve variations in tide height caused by the moon and sun's positions relative to Earth

Etymology: "Summertides" is simply the plural of "summertide," a noun that began in Middle English as "somertide" or "sumertid." It is built from two familiar parts: "summer," the warmest season of the year, and "-tide," an old English word for a time or season, which also survives in words like "Christmastide" and "eventide." Put together, the compound named a period of the summer, and its later sense of the coastal tidal pattern grew from that seasonal meaning. The plural form simply refers to the several such periods that recur each year along the coast. The word sits alongside "summertime," a close relative with the same seasonal core, though "summertide" has the older, more poetic feel of the two.