D defs.my
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Entry 10 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

May

/(mā)/ · IPA /meɪ/
01 v. An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb,
imp. Might
  1. 1.
    An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb,
    “How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health!” — Spenser.
    “For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible.” — Bacon.
    “For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: “It might have been.”” — Whittier.
  2. 2.
    Liberty; permission; allowance.
    “Thou mayst be no longer steward.” — Luke xvi. 2.
  3. 3.
    Contingency or liability; possibility or probability.
    “Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance.” — Pope.
  4. 4.
    Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark.
    “How old may Phillis be, you ask.” — Prior.
  5. 5.
    Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like.
Phrases & compounds
May be — are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.
02 n. A maiden.
  1. 1.
    A maiden.[Obs.]
03 n. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.
  1. 1.
    The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.
  2. 2.
    The early part or springtime of life.
    “His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood.” — Shak.
  3. 3.
    The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn.(Bot.)
    “The palm and may make country houses gay.” — Nash.
    “Plumes that mocked the may.” — Tennyson.
  4. 4.
    The merrymaking of May Day.
Phrases & compounds
Italian may — a shrubby species of Spiraea (Spiraea hypericifolia) with many clusters of small white flowers along the slender branches.
May apple — the fruit of an American plant (Podophyllum peltatum). Also, the plant itself (popularly called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic.
May beetle — any one of numerous species of large lamellicorn beetles that appear in the winged state in May. They belong to Melolontha, and allied genera. Called also June beetle.
May Day — the first day of May; -- celebrated in the rustic parts of England by the crowning of a May queen with a garland, and by dancing about a May pole.
May dew — the morning dew of the first day of May, to which magical properties were attributed.
May flower — a plant that flowers in May; also, its blossom. See Mayflower, in the vocabulary.
May fly — any species of Ephemera, and allied genera; -- so called because the mature flies of many species appear in May. See Ephemeral fly, under Ephemeral.
May game — any May-day sport.
May lady — the queen or lady of May, in old May games.
May lily — the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis).
May pole — See Maypole in the Vocabulary.
May queen — a girl or young woman crowned queen in the sports of May Day.
May thorn — the hawthorn.