may
see also: May
Pronunciation Verb
May
Pronunciation Proper noun
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see also: May
Pronunciation Verb
may (may; past might)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be strong; to have power (over). [8th–17th c.]
- (obsolete, auxiliary) To be able; can. [8th–17th c.]
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition II, section 3, member 6:
- But many times […] we give way to passions we may resist and will not.
- (intransitive, poetic) To be able to go. [from 9th c.]
- (modal auxiliary verb, defective) To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests. [from 9th c.]
- you may smoke outside; may I sit there?
- Synonyms: can, could, might
- (modal auxiliary verb, defective) Expressing a present possibility; possibly. [from 13th c.]
- he may be lying; Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box
- Synonyms: could, might
- (subjunctive present, defective) Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect). [from 16th c.]
- may you win; may the weather be sunny
- Synonyms: might
- Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark.
- French: peut-être, se pouvoir (impersonal, third-person singular)
- Portuguese: talvez, pode ser
- Spanish: quizás, tal vez, poder ser
may (uncountable)
Translations- French: aubépine
- German: Weißdornblüte
- Italian: biancospino
- Portuguese: pilriteiro, estrepeiro
- Russian: боя́рышник
- Spanish: espino, marzoleto
may (mays, present participle maying; past and past participle mayed)
- (poetic, intransitive) To gather may, or flowers in general.
- (poetic, intransitive) To celebrate May Day.
may (plural mays)
- (archaic) A maiden.
May
Pronunciation Proper noun
- The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
- A female given name, pet name for Mary and Margaret, reinforced by the month and plant meaning.
- 1856 E. D. E. N. Southworth, The Widow's Son, T. B. Peterson (1867), page 210:
- […] I will not send Owen's Lily May to the almshouse." "Lily―what?" demanded Mrs. Morley rather sharply, for she was half provoked with what she mentally called Amy's whim of keeping the outcast child when she might send it to the asylum. "Lily May," said Amy, smiling. "Her name is Mary, and we called her first Little Mary, and then Little May. But Owen calls her Lily May."
- 1982 Ruth Rendell, The Fever Tree and Other Stories, Hutchinson, ISBN 0091497302, page 119:
- Their parents named them June and May because their birthdays occurred in those months. […] May was like the time of year in which she had been born, changeable, chilly and warm by turns, sullen yet able to know and show loveliness that couldn't last.
- 2010 Margaret Forster, Isa & May, Chatto & Windus, ISBN 9780701184667, page 5:
- It's an awkward name: Isamay, pronounced Is-a-may. Isa is my paternal grandmother's name (shortened from Isabel) and May my maternal grandmother's (it comes, somehow, from Margaret). The amalgamation is, as you see, strictly alphabetical. Life, I feel, would have been much easier if they had chosen Maybel.
- 1856 E. D. E. N. Southworth, The Widow's Son, T. B. Peterson (1867), page 210:
- Surname
- Russian: Ма́йя
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004