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May   /meɪ/   Listen
verb
May  v.  (past might)  An auxiliary verb qualifying 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!" "For what he (the king) may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible." "For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: "It might have been.""
(b)
Liberty; permission; allowance. "Thou mayst be no longer steward."
(c)
Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. "Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance."
(d)
Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. "How old may Phillis be, you ask."
(e)
Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. "May you live happily."
May be, and It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.


noun
May  n.  A maiden. (Obs.)


May  n.  
1.
The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.
2.
The early part or springtime of life. "His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood."
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." "Plumes that mocked the may."
4.
The merrymaking of May Day.
Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spiraea (Spiraea 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 (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), 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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"May" Quotes from Famous Books



... propounded to us in that way. I cannot see how, in England at any rate, a serious and perfectly honest man, holding as true that ampler view of life I have suggested, can attach himself loyally to any existing party or faction. At the utmost he may find their faction-fighting may be turned for a time towards his remoter ends. These parties derive from that past when the new view of life had yet to establish itself, they carry faded and obliterated banners that the glare and dust of conflict, ...
— Mankind in the Making • H. G. Wells
... results haven't everywhere been in keeping with the purity and truth of the doctrine, it may be because the doctrine has been too noble, too elevated for mankind, that its aim has been placed too high. It was so much easier to come up to the heathen system, or to the Mohammedan. It is precisely what is noble and dignified that ...
— The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, A Dialogue, Etc. • Arthur Schopenhauer
... those who create things without practical uses. The merely aesthetic, like rhyme and fireworks, is not the only subject that can engage a playful fancy or be planned with a premonition of beautiful effects. Architecture may be useful, sculpture commemorative, poetry reflective, even, music, by its expression, religious or martial. In a word, practical exigencies, in calling forth the arts, give them moral functions which it is a pleasure to see them fulfil. Works may not be aesthetic ...
— The Life of Reason • George Santayana
... beautiful nursery song ever sung by any mother, in any language, may be heard in the Balengi county, in Central Africa. There is wonderful tenderness in it,—tenderness that would melt the coldest heart. It reveals a bright spot in the heart-life ...
— History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1 - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George W. Williams
... was put on board, hoping to make a second profit of the dead carcases which they expected would be thrown overboard, and two-thirds of the hogs dying before the Centurion was out of sight of land, many of the Chinese boats followed her only to pick up the carrion. These instances may serve as a specimen of the manners of this celebrated nation, which is often recommended to the rest of the world as a pattern of ...
— Anson's Voyage Round the World - The Text Reduced • Richard Walter


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