sumner1
(ˈsʌmnə(r))
Also 4 sumnor, 5 -ere, 6 -ar, (erron. summer, sunner); 4–5 sumpnour(e, 6 sumpner.
[a. AF. sum(e)nour, f. sumen-, sumon-: see summon v. and -er1. Cf. somner, sompnour.]
One who is employed to summon persons to appear in court; esp. a summoning officer in an ecclesiastical court. Most recently surviving in the Isle of Man.
| 1362 P. Pl. A. ii. 46 For Sisours, for Sumnors [B. ii. 58 sompnours, v.r. sumpnoures; C. iii. 59 somners], for Sullers, for Buggers. c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 781 Hic sitarius, a sumner. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 24 In paninge of two Sumpners cotes .10. a 1596 Sir T. More iv. v. 149 Thou art reseru'de To be my sumner to yond spirituall courte. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 85 The bisshop is not her, his sunner, the officiall, ner yet his chansler. 1600 1st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle ii. i. 66, I am my lord of Rochesters Sumner. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii. 1694 You that liue like a sumner vpon the sinnes of the people. 1612 Dekker If it be not Good i. i, Two of thy Summers dead-drunke here too. 1726–31 Waldron Descr. Isle of Man (1744) 77 An Officer.., called a Sumner, lays a Straw over his, or her Shoulder, and says, By virtue of this, you are Yarded for the Service of the Lord of Man. 1868 Milman St. Paul's 121 The sumner, and the bellringer of the Cathedral. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xii, Next day the Bishop sent his sumner round the parish. |
| fig. a 1591 H. Smith Serm. (1637) 349 Age, sicknesse, and Death, the three Sumners. a 1612 Harington Epigr. ii. lxii, An Abbot..cited now, by deaths sharpe Sumner, sicknesse. 1891 Hall Caine Scapegoat i, What the sumner of the Lord of Hosts had not done, the sumner of the Lord Sultan very speedily brought to pass. |