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the season between summer and winter; fall. In the Northern Hemisphere it is from the September equinox to the December solstice; in the Southern Hemisphere it is from the March equinox to the June solstice.
a time of full maturity, especially the late stages of full maturity or, sometimes, the early stages of decline:
to be in the autumn of one’s life.
Contemporary Examples

Standing in the chill breeze of autumn, I knew something had passed between us.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear Doug Peacock November 22, 2014

You might remember Goodling as a revealing footnote in the autumn of the Bush administration.
How I Got Interrogated by the Bushies John Avlon January 14, 2009

These days, people are stacking up to see the last of autumn’s vibrant colors.
Gal With a Suitcase Jolie Hunt November 5, 2010

The quartet noticed that island activity lessened that autumn (Japan surrendered on August 15) but refused to acknowledge defeat.
The Week in Death: The Last to Surrender The Telegraph January 18, 2014

One afternoon we were watching Ingmar Bergman’s autumn Sonata.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days David Freeman December 12, 2014

Historical Examples

Mrs. Anne Hutchinson arrived in Boston from England in the autumn of 1634.
The Colonies 1492-1750 Reuben Gold Thwaites

Not a breeze can stir but it thrills us with the breath of autumn.
The Old Manse (From “Mosses From An Old Manse”) Nathaniel Hawthorne

It was a wretched autumn day on which she set out for her new home.
Margaret Capel, v. 2 of 3 Ellen Wallace

The son of Monseigneur will in the autumn marry Mademoiselle de Voincourt.
The Dream Emile Zola

All are oval and abruptly pointed, thick and firm in texture, turning yellow or russet brown in autumn.
Trees Worth Knowing Julia Ellen Rogers

noun
(sometimes capital)

Also called (esp US) fall. the season of the year between summer and winter, astronomically from the September equinox to the December solstice in the N hemisphere and from the March equinox to the June solstice in the S hemisphere
(as modifier): autumn leaves

a period of late maturity, esp one followed by a decline
n.

late 14c., autumpne (modern form from 16c.), from Old French autumpne, automne (13c.), from Latin autumnus (also auctumnus, perhaps influenced by auctus “increase”), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Etruscan, but Tucker suggests a meaning “drying-up season” and a root in *auq- (which would suggest the form in -c- was the original) and compares archaic English sere-month “August.”

Harvest was the English name for the season until autumn began to displace it 16c. In Britain, the season is popularly August through October; in U.S., September through November. Cf. Italian autunno, Spanish otoño, Portuguese outono, all from the Latin word. Unlike the other three seasons, its names across the Indo-European languages leave no evidence that there ever was a common word for it.

Many “autumn” words mean “end, end of summer,” or “harvest.” Cf. also Lithuanian ruduo “autumn,” from rudas “reddish,” in reference to leaves; Old Irish fogamar, literally “under-winter.”