Definition of May. Meaning of May. Synonyms of May

Here you will find one or more explanations in English for the word May. Also in the bottom left of the page several parts of wikipedia pages related to the word May and, of course, May synonyms and on the right images related to the word May.

Definition of May

May
May May, v. [imp. Might] [AS. pres. m[ae]g I am able, pret. meahte, mihte; akin to D. mogen, G. m["o]gen, OHG. mugan, magan, Icel. mega, Goth. magan, Russ. moche. ?. Cf. Dismay, Main strength, Might. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.] An auxiliary verb qualifyng the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. 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. (b) Liberty; permission; allowance. Thou mayst be no longer steward. --Luke xvi. 2. (c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance. --Pope. (d) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. How old may Phillis be, you ask. --Prior. (e) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. ``May you live happily.' --Dryden. May be, & It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.
May
May May, n. [Cf. Icel. m[ae]r, Goth. mawi; akin to E. maiden. ?.] A maiden. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
May
May May, n. [F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia (Gr. ?), daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter.] 1. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days. --Chaucer. 2. The early part or springtime of life. His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. --Shak. 3. (Bot.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn. The palm and may make country houses gay. --Nash. Plumes that micked the may. --Tennyson. 4. The merrymaking of May Day. --Tennyson. Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spir[ae]a (S. hypericifolia) with many clusters of small white flowers along the slender branches. May apple (Bot.), 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, May bug (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Bot.), a plant that flowers in May; also, its blossom. See Mayflower, in the vocabulary. May fly (Zo["o]l.), 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 (Bot.), 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.

Meaning of May from wikipedia

- Look up May or may in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. May is the fifth month of the year. May, MAY or may might also refer to: May (film), a 2002 drama/horror...
- May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and...
- Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysicist. He achieved...
- Dusty A. May (born December 30, 1976) is an American college basketball coach, currently the men's basketball head coach at the University of Michigan...
- Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (/təˈriːzə/; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the...
- May, a student-led hunger strike galvanised support around the country for the demonstrators, and the protests spread to some 400 cities. On 20 May,...
- "May It Be" is a song by the Irish recording artist Enya. She and Roma Ryan respectively composed and wrote lyrics to the song, for Peter Jackson's 2001...
- James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter, alongside Jeremy Clarkson...
- Isabel May (born November 21, 2000) is an American actress. She first gained attention as high school student Katie Cooper, one of the co-lead roles on...
- May December is a 2023 American black comedy drama film directed by Todd Haynes from a screenplay by Samy Burch, based on a story by Burch and Alex Mechanik...