Meanings
nounMay-lady (plural May-ladies)
plural May-ladies
- archaichistoricalA May Queen.
Some light huswife belike, that was dressed like a may lady, and as most of our gentlewomen are.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 2, subsection 31 more example
The jolly Satyres, full of fresh delight, / Came dauncing forth, and with them nimbly ledd / Faire Hellenore with girlonds all bespredd, / Whom their May-lady they had newly made […].
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA
May-lady. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May-lady
MLA
“May-lady.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May-lady. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “May-lady,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May-lady.
Source: May-lady on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.