11 uses
(click/touch triangles for details)
Definition
to call forth
The exact meaning of summon can depend upon its context. For example:
- "summon to court" — officially demand that someone appear in court (call them to court)
- "summon the team to a meeting" — call upon the team members to attend a meeting
- "summon help" — call others to come and help
- "summon her courage" — call forth her courage from within
- Uncle Alfred was summoned to fetch the Buick, which he had not vandalized too badly in the usual "Just Married" fashion.p. 126.6
- It keeps things for you, or hides things from you—and summons them to your recall with a will of its own.p. 36.6
- After a polite pause, Lydia inched her wheelchair forward and picked up the little silver bell and shook it for the maids to come clear—the very bell that had summoned Lydia so often (only yesterday, it seemed).p. 45.4
- The worst part about being buried in the pile—up to your chin— was that the lumberyard dog, the Eastmans' slobbering boxer, a mindlessly friendly beast with halitosis vile enough to give you visions of corpses uprooted from their graves .... this dog with the mouth of death was then summoned to lick your face.p. 57.4
- The lights were turned on in some houses when Mr. Fish finished digging the grave, and Owen decided that the attendant mourners should hold candles, which Lydia was reluctant to provide; at my mother's urging, Lydia produced the candles, and my grandmother was summoned.p. 185.1
- It wasn't necessary for me to suspend my belief or disbelief in Owen Meany until after his first rehearsal; I already knew what a presence he could summon—especially in regard to the future.p. 201.7
- When Owen and I were summoned to the headmaster's office, we did not know everything that Mitzy Lish had said about the "incident"—that was how Randy White referred to it.p. 382.9
- Professionals were summoned to extricate him from the destroyed Volkswagen; later—long after morning meeting was over—they finally rescued the headmaster by removing the driver's-side door of Dr. Dolder's poor car with a torch.p. 400.7
- She managed to advertise herself all around the university, in Durham, too—Hester told me that Mrs. Hoyt drew more of a crowd from the university community than she was able to summon among the locals in Gravesend.p. 474.4
- I would be summoned for a preinduction physical at my local Gravesend draft board, where I had every reason to expect I would be found fully acceptable for induction—what was called 1-A—fit to serve, and standing at the head of the line.p. 474.7
- My grandmother commenced to wait on him, hand and foot—and Ethel was summoned and directed to concoct something nourishing for him in the blender: a fresh pineapple, a banana, some ice cream, some brewer's yeast.p. 487.3
There are no more uses of "summon" in A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Typical Usage
(best examples)