Indian summer

plural Indian summers

1. offensivepossiblyA stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.First known use late 18th c., popularized in the early 19th c.

   There is sunshine in the face of all—a kind of Indian summer sunshine, infused with the sadness of a coming winter; and theirs is the winter of parting.

   1892, Gilbert Parker, “Shon McGann’s Tobogan Ride”, in Pierre And His People: Tales of the Far North, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, section II, page 158

   4 more examples

   Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer.

   1778 January 17, J[ohn] Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, Letters from an American Farmer: […], London: Printed for Thomas Davies […], and Lockyer Davis […], published 1782, →OCLC; republished as Albert E. Stone, editor, Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-century America (Penguin Classics), New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1986, →ISBN, page 233

   And while the bards, before my fancy bring / The Indian ſummer, and Italian ſpring, / Rapt let me mark the different climates found, / In Temple's gardens, and his lawns around.

   1786 July, “Written in Lord Palmerston’s Park near Romsey, Hants”, in The County Magazine, volume VII, number I, Salisbury, Witshire: Printed for and sold by B. C. Collins, and by S. Crowder, in London, published 1788, →OCLC, page 100

   The gentlemen were still lounging on the gallery, fighting time with newspapers and cigars, for the Indian Summer kept up a charming pretense that Winter had forgotten to cross the water; […]

   1869 February, “The Bismarck Moire”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours: Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume VI, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 381, column 1

   Truth be told, I enjoyed the earthquake of '89; […] It was a warm night, Indian summer. The whole city seemed to be out of doors. It was like an enormous block party, all the neighbors sitting on their stoops, drinking beer, listening to their radios.

   2004, August Kleinzahler, “The Dog, the Family: A Household Tale”, in Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, →ISBN, part 1

   Synonyms: St. Luke's summer, all-hallown summer, St. Martin's summer, Michaelmas summer

2. figurativelyThe late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.First known use early 19th c.

   Here, in what she had begun to think of as the Indian summer of her life, she was claiming a future that held infinite and delicious possibilities; and she would spend the coming years with someone who would bring all the seasons alive.

   2012 November 26, Betty R. Pritchett, The Indian Summer of Mary Margaret Masters, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 262

   3 more examples

   Thus, while at times before our eye / The clouds about the present part, / And, smiling through them, round us lie / Soft hues of Memory's evening sky – / The Indian summer of the heart, / In secret sympathies of mind, / In founts of feeling which retain / Their pure fresh flow, we yet may find / Our early dreams not wholly vain!

   1843, John G[reenleaf] Whittier, “Memories”, in Lays of My Home, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor, →OCLC, page 110

   We may come to look back on the Sixties as the Indian summer of the Western imagination, of the last aristocrats of Western taste. Beginning with [John F.] Kennedy, the era ends with [Richard] Nixon and Joe Frazier, his hatchet-man … Cavaliers had better beware. The Roundheads are back in force.

   1971 March 9, Francis Wheen, quoting Kenneth Tynan, “Introduction: The Paranoia Blues”, in Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia, paperback edition, London: Fourth Estate, HarperCollins Publishers, published 2010, →ISBN, page 6

   Instead of focusing on winning the next election for her husband, Nancy Reagan can turn to the broader mission of helping others. She is laying down her own legacy next to her husband's. This kind of activism is often the hallmark of people in their Indian summer season. Their energy is fueled by a sense of urgency that is lacking in youth.

   2004 June 15, Abigail Trafford, “Nancy Reagan’s Second Act”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2018, page HE01

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Indian, summer.