Anglo-Indian corruption of SOMBRERO, sun-umbrella.
1797. S. James, Narr. Voy., 88. Not one European was able to stir outside his door without his summerhead.
1886. Yule & Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, Suppl. s.v. Sombrero, Summerhead is a name in the Bombay Arsenal (as M.-General Keatinge tells me) for a great umbrella.
