From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
May \May\ (m[=a]), v. [imp. {Might} (m[imac]t)] [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. [root]103. Cf. {Dismay}, {Main} strength, {Might}. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.] 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! --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}, {maybe}, {by chance}, {peradventure}. See 1st {Maybe}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
May \May\, noun [Cf. Icel. m[ae]r, Goth. mawi; akin to E. maiden. [root]103.] A maiden. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
May \May\, noun [F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia (Gr. Mai^a), 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 mocked the may. --Tennyson.
4. The merrymaking of May Day. --Tennyson.
{Italian may} (Bot.), a shrubby species of {Spir[ae]a} ({Spir[ae]a 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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the month following April and preceding June
2: thorny Eurasian shrub of small tree having dense clusters of white to scarlet flowers followed by deep red berries; established as an escape in eastern North America [syn: {whitethorn}, {English hawthorn}, {Crataegus laevigata}, {Crataegus oxycantha}]
From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:
May, OK (town, FIPS 47000) Location: 36.61650 N, 99.74896 W Population (1990): 42 (34 housing units) Area: 0.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 73851 May, TX Zip code(s): 76857
From U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:
May, OK -- U.S. town in Oklahoma Population (2000): 33 Housing Units (2000): 27 Land area (2000): 0.179778 sq. miles (0.465622 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.179778 sq. miles (0.465622 sq. km) FIPS code: 47000 Located within: Oklahoma (OK), FIPS 40 Location: 36.616536 N, 99.749363 W ZIP Codes (1990): 73851 Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs. Headwords: May, OK May
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0