Learn English – the correct verb corresponding to the noun “summons”

verbs

I have just seen this usage:

… you have been summonsed …

My immediate reaction was one of (let's say) surprise; I would have thought the correct form was:

… you have been summoned

Is there, in fact, a verb "to summons", and, if so, where did it come from?

Best Answer

Summons means, in the OED's definition, ‘to cite before a court or a judge or magistrate; to take out a summons against’ and is first recorded in that sense in 1780. It has a similar etymology to summon and was once used as an alternative to it.

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