autumns

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of autumn.

   Over several autumns, the orchard slowly recovered from the blight.

   Their letters described long, golden autumns spent harvesting grapes.

   Note

   Counting seasons calls for the plural, as in several autumns or the autumns of a long marriage. The uncountable use takes none: we say in autumn, not in autumns. The plural also names people in seasonal color analysis, since those with relatively dark hair and a warm skin tone are called autumns. The same spelling serves the verb for spending the season, and a subject in front tells you which you have.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of autumn.

   The novelist autumns by the lake, where the quiet helps her finish each book.

   Every year the family autumns at the coast before the resorts close.

   Note

   Behind this present-tense form sit two verbs. The commoner one means spending the season somewhere. It is intransitive and wants a place after it: she autumns in Vermont. The other means turning autumnal, with or without an object, so the maples autumn early, or a cold snap autumns the hills. Without a subject in front, the identical spelling is the plural of the season.

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