mary

plural marys

1. Alternative letter-case form of Mary (“male homosexual”).

   Synonyms: male homosexual

1. alternativeAlternative form of marry (“indeed, in truth”).

   And I pray thee (ſayde Pas,) gentle Nico, tell mee what miſchaunce yt was that broughte thee to taſte ſo fyne a Meate? Mary goodman Blockhead (ſayde Nico) bycauſe hee ſpeakes ageanſt Jeloſy, the filthy Treytor to true affection, and yet diſguyſing yt ſelf in the rayment of Love.

   The Old Arcadia

   Albert Feuillerat, editor (1926), “The Third Book”, in The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia: Being the Original Version […] (Cambridge English Classics; The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; IV), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 232

   2 more examples

   You that be of the court, & eſpecially ye ſworn chaplains beware of a leſſon that a great man taught me at my firſt coming to the court he told me for a good will, he thoughte it wel. He ſayd vnto me. You muſt beware how ſo euer ye do that ye cõtrary not the king, let him haue his ſaiyngs, folow him, go with him. Mary out vpon this counſel, ſhal I ſay, as he ſayes?

   1549 April 29 (Gregorian calendar), Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[27 Sermons Preached by the Ryght Reuerende Father in God and Constant Matir of Iesus Christe, Maister Hugh Latimer, […].] The Seuenth Sermon of Maister Hugh Latymer, which He Preached before King Edward [VI], the .19. Day of Aprill.”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 93, recto

   Falst[aff] Fie, this is hot weather (gentlemen) haue you prouided me heere halfe a dozen ſufficient men? / Shal[low] Mary haue we ſir, will you ſit? / Falst. Let me ſee them I beſeech you. / Shall. Wheres the rowle? wheres the rowle? wheres the rowle? let me ſee, let me ſee, ſo, ſo, ſo, ſo, ſo (ſo, ſo) yea mary ſir, Rafe Mouldy, let them appeere as I call, let them do ſo, let thẽ do ſo, let me ſee, where is Mouldy?

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature [E6], verso

plural Marys · plural Maries · alternative Marie

1. A female given name from Aramaic or Hebrew.

   For the last decade at least, the trend seems to be that more untraditional names are being chosen over the Bobs, the Toms, the Sues and the Marys.

   2009 April 25, “Meet Number 16 Bus Shelter”, in Austin Daily Herald, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025

   5 more examples

   I have a passion for the name of Mary, For once it was a magic sound to me: And still it half calls up the realm of fairy Where I beheld what never was to be.

   1821, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Fifth: IV

   Mary, which is as common as a white violet, and like that has something indestructibly sweet and simple, and fit for all wear, high or low, suits the cottage or the palace, the garden or the field, the pretty and the ugly, the old and the young;

   1830, Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village: Cottage Names

   For it was Mary; Mary / Plain as any name can be / But with propriety, society / Will say "Marie". / But it was Mary; Mary / Long before the fashions came / And there's something there that sounds so square / It's a grand old name.

   1905 George M.Cohan, Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, Mary is a Grand Old Name ( a song)

   They had called their children Ann, Mary, and John as a reaction against their own fancy tricksy names. Both mothers thought these names sadly unimaginative and each blamed the child of the other for the lack of vision and style.

   1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN

   Life on Martha’s Vineyard has been mostly ideal for 11-year-old Mary Elizabeth Lambert, the protagonist of Ann Clare LeZotte’s historical novel SHOW ME A SIGN (Scholastic, 288 pp., $18.99; ages 8 to 12).

   2020 April 27, Meg Medina, “A Deaf Girl Finds Her Voice on Martha's Vineyard in the 19th Century”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2022

2. lifestyleThe mother of Jesus; believed in Christianity and Islam to have been a virgin, and believed by most Christians to have been born herself without sin, to have been assumed into Heaven without death, and to act as a sympathetic intercessor for believers.

   Now the birth of Jeſus Chriſt was on this wiſe: When as his mother Mary was eſpouſed to Joſeph (before they came together) ſhee was found with childe of the holy Ghoſt.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:18, column 2

   Synonyms: advocatrix, Blessed Virgin, Blessed Virgin Mary, Christotokos, Coredemptrix, Deipara, Holy Mary, Holy Mother

3. Any of several other women in the New Testament, notably:
   1. biblicalMary Magdalene, a disciple of Jesus.
   2. biblicalMary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus and Martha.

      And Jeſus anſwered, and ſaide vnto her, Martha, Martha, thou art carefull, and troubled about many things: But one thing is needefull, and Mary hath choſen that good part, which ſhall not bee taken away from her.

      1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 10:41–42, column 1

4. IslamSynonym of Maryam (“The 19th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an”)

   Synonyms: Maryam

5. USslangLGBTA term of address for a male homosexual.First known use 1925

   Note also that male homosexuals will call most anyone Bessie or Mary, e.g. ‘Oh, Bessie, you're a camp!’

   [1941, G. Legman, Sex Variants, volume II, page 1171

   1 more example

   In America in the 1950s,... Mary was often used in the vocative to address any fellow homosexual (‘Well, Mary...’).

   [1985, W. Dynes, Homolexis, page 150

   Synonyms: nancy, nan

6. IrelanddatedA male middle name, given in honour of the Virgin Mary.

1. A city, the capital of the region of Mary, in southeastern Turkmenistan.

   Synonyms: Merv

2. A region in southeastern Turkmenistan.