sums

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of sum.

   The accountant rechecked the sums before filing the annual report.

   Enormous sums changed hands during the final hour of the auction.

   Note

   One plural carries several kinds of sum: totals reached by adding things up, amounts of money, and the arithmetic exercises a student works through. Context decides which is meant. Enormous sums at an auction are money. A pupil's sums are computations, and they need not be additions at all. The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, so check whether it names things or an action.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of sum.

   The spreadsheet sums every entry in the selected range automatically.

   She sums the day's sales before locking up the store each night.

   Note

   The present-tense form a singular subject takes: it sums, she sums. Both of its meanings are transitive, so it needs an object, and the object shows which meaning is in play. Numbers and entries are added together, while an argument or a day's events are summarized. Without a following object, the word is usually the plural noun instead.

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