summat

Alternative forms

• sommat
• sumet (17th century)
• summut, zum'ot, summot (18th – 19th centuries)
• sumat, summet, zumat, zummat, zummet, zummut (19th century)

Etymology

Dialectal variant of somewhat attested from the 18th century. Joseph Wright suggested that it might be a contraction of "some that" in A Grammar of the Dialect of Windhill (page 78).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌmət/, /ˈzʌmət/, /ˈsʊmət/

Homonyms: summit (in some dialects)

Pronoun

summat

1. (Britain, Northern England, Yorkshire) Something.
   • 1809, Theodore Hook, "Killing No Murder" in The Sporting Magazine, volume 34, no. 202, page 185

     ...every gentleman tips us summat, we looks for it as natural as possible.

   • 1825 October 12, Walter Scott, Letters (published 1935), IX.245

     They require the atmosphere of a cigar and the amalgam of a sum'mat comfortable.

   • 1859, George Eliot, Adam Bede, I.i.i.10

     A man must learn summat beside Gospel to make them things.

   • 1929, John Cowper Powys, Wolf Solent, page 129

     He were a-going to gie I summat for’n, but like enough it’ll be worth more to a gent like yourself.

   • 1947, Thomas Armstrong, King Cotton, page 53

     Does he think I’ve been soaping up to the Governor or summat?

   • 1997, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, iv:

     ‘Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it’ll taste all right.’

   • 2006, Robin Jarvis, Thomas, page 20

     Why go all the way to find summat that ain’t there?

Adverb

summat (not comparable)

1. (Britain, regional) Somewhat, to a limited extent or degree
   • 1859, George Eliot, Adam Bede, I.i.viii.172

     It's summat-like to see such a man as that i' the desk of a Sunday!

Anagrams

• Sammut

Noun

summat

1. Nominative plural form of summa.