May

v. [imp. MIGHT.] [A-S. magan, to be able, pres. mäg, pret. meahte, mihte; Goth. & O. H. Ger. magan, M. H. Ger. mugen, mügen, N. H. Ger. mögen, D. mogen, Icel. mega, Sw. må, Dan. maae. The old imp. mought is obsolete, but not wholly extinct among our common people.] An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing (a.) Ability, competency, or possibility. [Rare.]

How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health! Spenser.

For what the king may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. Bacon.

(b.) Moral power, liberty, permission, allowance.

Thou mayst be no longer steward. Luke xvi. 2.

(c.) Contingency or liability; the possibility or probability of occurrence as given in the known laws of nature or mind.

Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, and be right by chance. Pope.

For of all sad words of tongue or of pen, The saddest are these: It might have been. Whittier.

(d.) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark.

How old may Phillis be, you ask, Whose beauty thus all hearts engages? Prior.

(e.) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like.

May you live happily and long for the service of your country. Dryden.

☞ May be, it may be, mayhap, are expressions equivalent to perhaps, by chance, peradventure; that is, it is possible to be.

n. [Scot. may, A-S. mäg, Icel. mey, O. Sw. moj, Sw. & Dan. mö, Goth. mavi.]

1Sense 1. A young woman. [Obs.]

The fairest may she was that ever went. Spenser.

2Sense 2. The early part of life.

His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. Shak.

3Sense 3. The flowers of the hawthorn; — so called because they bloom in the last of May, old style. [Colloq. Eng.] Mayhew.

n. [Fr. Mai, Pr. Mai, May, Sp. Mayo, Pg. Maio, Mayo, It. Maggio, Lat. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia, daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter, Gr. Μαῖα, i. e., properly mother.] The fifth month of the year.

n. [A-S. magan, to be able. See supra.] Power to do any thing; might. [Obs.] Chaucer.