Note: Sum is now commonly applied to an aggregate of numbers, and number to an aggregate of persons or things.
2. A quantity of money or currency; any amount, indefinitely; as, a sum of money; a small sum, or a large sum. "The sum of forty pound." Chaucer. With a great sum obtained I this freedom. Acts xxii. 28.
3. The principal points or thoughts when viewed together; the amount; the substance; compendium; as, this is the sum of all the evidence in the case; this is the sum and substance of his objections.
4. Height; completion; utmost degree. Thus have I told thee all my state, and brought My story to the sum of earthly bliss. Milton.
5. (Arith.)
Defn: A problem to be solved, or an example to be wrought out. Macaulay. A sum in arithmetic wherein a flaw discovered at a particular point is ipso facto fatal to the whole. Gladstone. A large sheet of paper . . . covered with long sums. Dickens. Algebraic sum, as distinguished from arithmetical sum, the aggregate of two or more numbers or quantities taken with regard to their signs, as + or -, according to the rules of addition in algebra; thus, the algebraic sum of -2, 8, and -1 is 5. — In sum, in short; in brief. [Obs.] "In sum, the gospel . . . prescribes every virtue to our conduct, and forbids every sin." Rogers.
SUM
Sum, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Summed; p. pr. & vb. n. Summing.] Etym: [Cf.
F. sommer, LL. summare.]
1. To bring together into one whole; to collect into one amount; to cast up, as a column of figures; to ascertain the totality of; — usually with up. The mind doth value every moment, and then the hour doth rather sum up the moments, than divide the day. Bacon.
2. To bring or collect into a small compass; to comprise in a few words; to condense; — usually with up. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard," in few words sums up the moral of this fable. L'Estrange. He sums their virtues in himself alone. Dryden.
3. (Falconry)