May

[mey] /meɪ/

auxiliary verb, present singular 1st person may, 2nd may or (Archaic) mayest or mayst, 3rd may; present plural may; past might.
1.
(used to express possibility):
It may rain.
2.
(used to express opportunity or permission):
You may enter.
3.
(used to express contingency, especially in clauses indicating condition, concession, purpose, result, etc.):
I may be wrong but I think you would be wise to go. Times may change but human nature stays the same.
4.
(used to express wish or prayer):
May you live to an old age.
5.
Archaic. (used to express ability or power.)
[mey] /meɪ/
noun, Archaic.
1.
a maiden.
[mey] /meɪ/
noun
1.
the fifth month of the year, containing 31 days.
2.
the early part of one’s life, especially the prime:
a young woman in her May.
3.
the festivities of .
4.
(lowercase) British. the hawthorn.
5.
a female given name.
6.
Cape, a cape at the SE tip of New Jersey, on Delaware Bay.
verb (used without object)
7.
(lowercase) to gather flowers in the spring:
when we were maying.
/meɪ/
verb (past) might takes an infinitive without to or an implied infinitive used as an auxiliary
1.
to indicate that permission is requested by or granted to someone: he may go to the park tomorrow if he behaves himself
2.
(often foll by well) to indicate possibility: the rope may break, he may well be a spy
3.
to indicate ability or capacity, esp in questions: may I help you?
4.
to express a strong wish: long may she reign
5.
to indicate result or purpose: used only in clauses introduced by that or so that: he writes so that the average reader may understand
6.
another word for might1
7.
to express courtesy in a question: whose child may this little girl be?
8.
be that as it may, in spite of that: a sentence connector conceding the possible truth of a previous statement and introducing an adversative clause: be that as it may, I still think he should come
9.
come what may, whatever happens
10.
(foll by a clause introduced by but) that’s as may be, that may be so
/meɪ/
noun
1.
an archaic word for maiden
/meɪ/
noun
1.
Also may tree a Brit name for hawthorn
2.
short for may blossom
/meɪ/
noun
1.
the fifth month of the year, consisting of 31 days
/meɪ/
noun
1.
Robert McCredie, Baron. born 1936, Australian biologist and ecologist
v.

Old English mæg “am able” (infinitive magan, past tense meahte, mihte), from Proto-Germanic root *mag-, infinitive *maganan (Old Frisian mei/muga/machte “have power, may;” Old Saxon mag/mugan/mahte; Middle Dutch mach/moghen/mohte; Dutch mag/mogen/mocht; Old High German mag/magan/mahta; German mag/mögen/mochte; Old Norse ma/mega/matte; Gothic mag/magan/mahte “to be able”), from PIE *magh- (1) “to be able, have power” (cf. Greek mekhos, makhos “means, instrument,” Old Church Slavonic mogo “to be able,” mosti “power, force,” Sanskrit mahan “great”). Also used in Old English as a “auxiliary of prediction.”

“to take part in May Day festivities,” late 15c., from May. Related: Mayed; maying.

fifth month, early 12c., from Old French mai and directly from Latin Majus, Maius mensis “month of May,” possibly from Maja, Maia, a Roman earth goddess (wife of Vulcan) whose name is of unknown origin; possibly from PIE *mag-ya “she who is great,” fem. suffixed form of root *meg- “great” (cognate with Latin magnus). Replaced Old English þrimilce, month in which cows can be milked three times a day. May marriages have been considered unlucky at least since Ovid’s day. May-apple attested from 1733, American English.
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