may 
passing into each other, and may in many constructions 
being purposely or inevitably used with more or less in- 
deflniteness. The principal uses are as follows : (a) To in- 
dicate subjective ability, or abstract possibility : rarely 
used absolutely (as in the first quotation), but usually 
with an infinitive (not, however, as a mere auxiliary). See 
also mows. 
For and thou oner me myjtist, as y ouer thee man, 
Weel bittirli thou woldist me bynde. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 167. 
If thou consider the number and the maner of thy blisses 
and thy sorrowes, thou maiet nat forsaken [canst not 
deny] that nart yet blissful. Chaucer, Boethius. 
Therefore whanne it mate not be aghenseid to these 
thinzis. it behoueth ghou to be ceessid, and to do nothing 
folili. Wydtf, Acts xix. 36. 
Thei turned a-noon to flight, who that myght sonest, so 
that noon a-bode other. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 534. 
Ask me not, for I may not speak of it. 
Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
(6) To indicate possibility with contingency. 
What-so-eer thou be seruyd, loke thou be feyn, 
For els thou may want it when thou hast nede. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 50. 
For she said within herself, If I "may but touch his gar- 
ment, I shall be whole. Mat ix. 21. 
Things must be as they may. Shak., Hen. V., 11. 1. 23. 
I am confirm 'd, 
Fall what may fall. 
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, i. 1. 
Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance 
Some general maxims, or be right by chance. 
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 3. 
Let us keep sweet, 
If so we may, our hearts, even while we eat 
The bitter harvest of our own device. 
Whtttter, Amy Wentworth. 
It might be May or April, he forgot, 
The last of April or the first of May. 
Tennyson, The Brook. 
The young may die, but the old must ! 
Longfellow, Golden Legend, iv. 
In this sense, when a negative clause was followed by a 
contingent clause with if, may in the latter clause was 
formerly used elliptically, if I may meaning ' if I can con- 
trol it ' or ' prevent it.' 
My body, at the leeste way, 
Ther shal no wight defoulen, if I may. 
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 690. 
"Sey boldely thi wille," quod he, 
"I nyl be wroth, if that / may, 
For nought that thou shalt to me say." 
Rom. of the Rote, 1. 3099. 
Sometimes may is used merely to avoid a certain bluntness 
in putting a question, or to suggest doubt as to whether 
the person to whom the question is addressed will be able 
to answer it definitely. 
How old may Phillis be, you ask, 
Whose beauty thus all hearts engages? 
Prior, Phillis's Age. 
The preterit might is similarly used, with some slight ad- 
dition of contempt. 
Who might be your mother, 
That yon insult, exult, and all at once. 
Over the wretched 1 
Shak., As you Like it, Hi. 5. 35. 
(c) To indicate opportunity, moral power, or the absolute 
power residing in another agent. 
As I shalle devyse zou, suche as thei ben, and the names 
how thei clepen hem ; to suche entent, that zee mowf 
knowe the difference of hem and of othere. 
JlandevUlc, Travels, p. 53. 
For who that doth not whenne he may, 
Whenne he wolde hit wol be nay. 
Cursor Mundi. (UalliweU.) 
He loved hyni entirly, and fain wolde he that he a-bood 
stille yef it myght be. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), lii. 681. 
Easily thou mightest haue percieued my wanne cheekes 
... to forshew yat then, which I confesse now. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 355. 
Ill yield him thee asleep. 
Where thou mayat knock a nail into his head. 
Shak., Tempest, iii. 2. 69. 
(d) To indicate permission : the most common use. 
Thou mayest be no longer steward. Luke xvi. 2. 
An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too. 
Shak., M. N. D., L 2. 53. 
I might not be admitted. Shak., T. N., 1. 1. 25. 
In this sense may is scarcely used now in negative 
clauses, as permission refused amounts to an absolute 
prohibition, and accordingly removes all doubt or contin- 
gency, (e) To indicate desire, as in prayer, aspiration, 
imprecation, benediction, and the like. In this sense 
might is often used for a wish contrary to what can or 
must be : as, O that I might recall him from the grave ! 
May you live happily and long for the service of your 
country. Drydeti, Ded. of ^Eneid. 
Certain as this, O ! might my days endure, 
From age inglorious and black death secure. 
Pope, Iliad, viii. 687. 
That which I have done, 
May He within himself make pure ! 
Tennyson, Passing of Arthur. 
(/) In law, may in a statute is usually interpreted to mean 
must, when used not to confer a favor, but to impose a duty 
in the exercise of which the statute shows that the public 
or private persons are to be regarded as having an interest. 
B. As an auxiliary: In this use notionally 
identical with may in the contingent uses 
above, in A (b), but serving to form the so- 
3668 
called compound tenses of the subjunctive or 
potential mode, expressing contingency in con- 
nection with purpose, concession, etc. May is so 
used (1) In substantive clauses, or clauses that take the 
place of or are in apposition with the subject or object or 
predicate of a sentence : introduced by that. 
It was my secret wish that he might be prevailed on to 
accompany me. Byron. 
They apprehended that he might have been carried off 
by gipsies. Southey. 
May-beetle 
5. In Cambridge University, England, the East- 
er-term examination. 
The May is one of the features which distinguishes Cam- 
bridge from Oxford; at the latter there are no public 
College examinations. 
C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 87. 
Italian may, a frequently cultivated shrub, Sjriraza hy- 
pvrieijolia, with small white flowers in sessile umbels. 
Also called St. Peter's iweatft. Lord Of the May. See 
I. May laws. Seelowi. 
I heard from an old officer that when in the Westlndies may* (ma), !'. i. [< Jfa**, .] To celebrate 
he was told by a lady, at whose house he was dining, that May-day ; take part in the f estmties of May- 
he might not like the soup, as it was made from snakes. day : chiefly or only in the verbal noun maying 
N. and d., 7th ser., II. 335. anc j y ie derivative mayer: as, to go a maying. 
(-2) In conditional clauses. [Rare, except in clauses where ma y a l (ma'ya), n. [Hind.] In Hindu myth.: (a) 
permission is distinctly expressed.) Illusion or deceptive appearance. (6) \_cap.] 
lands goods, horse amour, anything l nave Such appearance personified as a female who 
86 Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. l. 53. acts a part in the production of the universe, 
(3) In concessive clauses. and is considered to have only an illusory ex- 
Whatever the stars may have betokened, this August, istence. 
1749, was a momentous month to Germany. O. H. Lewei. Maya 2 (ma'ya), a. [Native name.] Of or per- 
A great soul may inspire a sick body with strength ; but taining to tne Mayas, an aboriginal tribe of 
if the body were well, it would obey yet more promptly Yucatan, distinguished for their civilization 
and effectually. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 65. ^ ., &g ^ K M<jrg of an a]phabet and a lit- 
(4) In clauses expressing a purpose. erature when America was discovered : as, the 
Was it not enough for thee to bear the contradiction of \i ...... B l n h B bpt the Maua records 
sinners upon Earth, but thou must still suffer so much at J 7 ^" ^P/ 13 . " >."?? , *? / T,',Wpt 17711 
thehandsof those whom thou diedst for, that thou might- Mayaca (ma-yak a), . .(.JMLi. (AUDlet, i< IO), 
e* bring them to Heaven? StUlingfleet, Sermons, I. vi. from the native name.] The type and only ge- 
Constantius had separated his forces that he might di- nils of plants of the natural order Mayacacea;. 
vide the attention and resistance of the enemy. Gibbon. There are about 7 species, natives of North and South 
i- America from Virginia to Brazil. They are small moss like 
may 2 t, [< ME. may, mat, mey, a kinsman, nS or 8 emi-aquatic plants, with inconspicuous white, 
person, < AS. nueg, m., a kinsman, = OS. mag pink, or violet flowers. 
= OFries. mech = MLG. mach, mage = OHG. Mayacaceae (ma-ya-ka'se-e), n. pi. [NL. 
mag, MHG. mac, a kinsman, = Icel. mdgr, a (Kunth, 1843), < Mayaca + -acece.'} A natural 
father-in-law, = Sw. m&g = Dan. maag, son-iu- order of monocotyledonous plants belonging 
law, = Goth, megs, a son-in-law, orig. a 'kins- to the series Coronariea;, and characterized by 
man'; akin to AS. mdga, a kinsman, son, man, having regular flowers, three stamens, and a 
to magu, a child, young person, servant, a one-celled ovary with three parietal placenta? 
man, = OS. magu, child, = Icel. mo'gr, a son, a and many orthotropous ovules. The order con- 
man (> ME. mowe), = Goth, magus, a boy, ser- tains but one genus, Mayaca. 
vant, to AS. rnOeg, f., a kinswoman (see way 3 ), Mayaceae (ma-ya'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Lindley, 
and to mcegeth, nuegden, a maid, maiden (see 1847), < Mayaca + '-cw.] Same as Mayacacea'. 
maid, maiden); alt. from the root of may 1 , May-apple (ma'ap"l), n. 1. A plant, Podo- 
have strength.] 1. A kinsman. 2. A per- 
son. 
may 3 (ma), n. [< ME. may, mey, a maid,_< AS. 
mceg, f., kinswoman, a woman, akin to mceg, m., 
a kinsman : see may%.] A maiden ; a virgin. 
[Obsolete or Scotch.] 
Thow glorie of wommanhede, thow fayre may, 
Thow haven of refut, bryghte sterre of day. 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 753. 
To hevyns blys yhit may he ryse 
Thurghe helpe of Marie that mylde may. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.\ p. 128. 
But I will down yon river rove, among the wood eae green, 
An' a' to pu' a posie to my ain dear May. 
Burns, Oh, Luve will Venture in. 
May 4 (ma), n. [< ME. may, mey, < OF. mai, F. 
mai = Pr. mat = Sp. mayo = Pg. maio = It. 
maggio = OFries. maia = D. mei, Flem. mey = 
MLG. mei. meig = MHG. meie, meige, G. mai = 
Sw. maj = Dan. mai = Turk, mdyis, < L. Maius, 
Majlis, sc. mensis, the third month of the Roman 
year, usually associated with Maia, Maja (Gr. 
Maia), a goddess, the mother of Mercury, orig. a 
goddess of growth or increase ; from the root of 
magiius, OL. majtts, great : see may 1 .] 1. The 
fifth month of the year, consisting of thirty-one 
ilays, reckoned on the continent of Europe and 
/ihyllum peltatum, of the natural order Berbe- 
ridacea!. It is a native of North America. A peren- 
nial herb, about two feet high, it has one large white 
flower rising from between two leaves of the size of the 
May-apple {Podephyllttnt peltatum'}. 
a, the flower-bud with the bractlets ; b, a stamen ; f, the pistil ; 
<i, the fruit ; i, the fruit cut longitudinally. 
hand, composed of from five to seven wedge-shaped divi- 
sions. The yellowish, pulpy, slightly acid fruit, somewhat 
larger than a pigeon's egg, is sometimes eaten, and the 
in America as the last month of spring, but in 
Great Britain commonly as the first of summer. _ f^ e plant 1'. Emodi of the Himalayas; aTso, 
InthemonthoflfoythecitizensofLondonof all estates, a related plant of the western United States, 
generally in every parish, and in some Instances two or ^ c ] t ly s triphylla. S. Same as honeysucMe-ap- 
thrce parishes joining together, had their several mayings, , TTT a T 
and did fetch their maypoles with divers warlike shows ; f\ t- u _";-! .., ,. , ,, ,,. 
with good archers, morrice-dancers, and other devices for maybe (ma'be), adv. [Also dial, mebbe; an ellip- 
pastime, all daylong; andtowardseveningtheyhad stage- sis of it may be. Cf. mayhap.] Perhaps; pos- 
plays and bonfires in the streets. 
Stoic, quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 454. 
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 
. 
Milton, Odes, May Morning. 
2. Figuratively, the early part or springtime 
of life. 
His May of youth and bloom of lustihood. 
aihl v nrnhnblv 
n , know 
His pleasure ; maybe he will relent. 
Shak., M. for M., ii. 2. 4. 
Fftjth , _ ^y ^ that was the reason we di( j not mee t. 
Sheridan, The Rivals, ii. 2. 
"O binna feared, mither, I'll maybe no dee. " 
Glenlogie (Child's Ballads, IV. 82). 
3. II. c.] (a) The hawthorn: so called because 
it blooms in May. Also May-bush. 
But when at last I dared to speak, 
The lanes, you know, were white with may. 
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter. 
(6) Some other plant, especially species of 
Spiraea: as, Italian may. 4. The festivities or 
games of May-day. 
Shak., Much Ado, v. l. 70. maybe (ma'be), o. and n. [< maybe, adv.] I. a. 
Possible; uncertain. [Rare.] 
Tis nothing yet, yet all thou hast to give ; 
Then add those may-be years thou hast to live. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 293. 
II. n. Something that may be or happen ; a 
possibility or probability. [Rare.] 
However real to him, it is only a may-be to me. 
J. Hadley, Essays, p. 218. 
I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother. 
Tennyson, The May-Queen. 
or 
other species of the same genus. See cuts un- 
der dor-bug and .June-bug. [Southern U. S.] 
