may

past might · alternative maye

1. intransitiveno past participleno present participleobsoleteTo be strong; to have power (over).First known use 8th–17th c.
2. auxiliaryno past participleno present participleobsoleteTo be able; can.First known use 8th–17th c.

   But many times[…]we give way to passions we may resist and will not.

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 6

3. intransitiveno past participleno present participlepoeticTo be able to go.First known use 9th c.

   O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East, That I may backe to Athens by day-light […].

   1600, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, III.3

4. defectivemodalno past participleno present participleTo have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.First known use 9th c.

   may I sit there?

   2 more examples

   you may smoke outside

   May we request that patrons kindly take their seats.

   Synonyms: can, could, might

5. Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.
   1. defectivemodalno past participleno present participleExpressing a present possibility; possibly.First known use 13th c.

      he may be lying

      4 more examples

      Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box.

      Sam may be intelligent, but he isn't wise. [This speaker does not know with certainty whether Sam is intelligent, but the speaker allows the possibility.]

      A female crocodile may lay up to forty eggs. [Typical occurrence.]

      The result may not quite give the Wearsiders a sweet ending to what has been a sour week, following allegations of sexual assault and drug possession against defender Titus Bramble, but it does at least demonstrate that their spirit remains strong in the face of adversity.

      2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2-2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport

      Synonyms: could, might

   2. defectivemodalno past participleno present participleExpressing a disjunctive or contrastive relation between indicative statements.

      You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.

      2 more examples

      A: Sigh. I'm bummed that Stephen Hawking died. B: Well, he may have died, but he's still alive in our hearts. [This speaker does not doubt that Stephen has died; nonetheless, the verb inflection is not different.]

      Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

      2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68

      Synonyms: might

6. defectiveno past participleno present participlepresentsubjunctivechiefly solemnExpressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect).First known use 16th c.

   Let us pray that peace may soon return to our war-torn homeland.

   3 more examples

   may you win;  may the weather be sunny;  long may your reign last

   May God bless and keep you always / May your wishes all come true / May you always do for others / And let others do for you / May you build a ladder to the stars / And climb on every rung / May you stay forever young

   1974, Bob Dylan, “Forever Young”, in Planet Waves

   May I never miss the thrill of being near you

   1984, “No More Lonely Nights”, performed by Paul McCartney

   Synonyms: might

7. defectivemodalno past participleno present participleUsed in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark.

   How old may Phillis be, you ask, / Whose Beauty thus all Hearts engages.

   1744 [1720], Matthew Prior, “Phillis's age”, in Joe Miller's Jests, 7th edition

1. uncountableThe hawthorn bush or its blossoms.

   The fire from Lindfield was coming down the grassy hillside to the right between the hedges of may.

   1973, Patsy Adam Smith, The Barcoo Salute, Adelaide: Rigby, page 43

present singular third person mays · participle present maying · participle past mayed · past mayed

1. intransitivepoeticTo gather may, or flowers in general.

   In valleys green and still / Where lovers wander maying

   1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems, VII, lines 1-2

   1 more example

   Soo it befelle in the moneth of May / quene Gueneuer called vnto her knyȝtes of the table round / and she gafe them warnynge that erly vpon the morowe she wold ryde on mayeng in to woodes & feldes besyde westmynstre. "So it befell in the month of May, Queen Guenever called unto her knights of the Table Round; and she gave them warning that early upon the morrow she would ride a-Maying into woods and fields beside Westminster."

   1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XIX, Chapter i leaf 386v

2. intransitivepoeticTo celebrate May Day.

plural mays

1. archaicA maiden.

plural Mays · alternative abbreviation Ma · alternative Mae

1. countableuncountableThe fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.

   Holonyms: calendar year; year

   3 more examples

   All in the merry month of May, / When green leaves they was springing, / This young man on his death-bed lay, / For the love of Barbara Allen.

   Before 1789, "Bonny Barbara Allen," traditional ballad, collected in Francis James Child and George Lyman Kittridge (1886), The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, vol. II, part II, p. 277

   At a signing ceremony in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on May 29, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan ratified the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) into existence. An EEU modeled on the European Union was first mooted back in 1994 by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, but took off only after his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, seized upon its potential as a Moscow-centered, Asia-oriented alternative to the EU.

   2014 July 1, Frank Jacobs, “Welcome to Stanistan”, in Foreign Policy, archived from the original on 03 Aug 2023

   In May, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told reporters the Trump administration is “looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus for migrants under claims of an “invasion.”

   2025 August 6, Rachel Dobkin, “Significant parts of the Constitution were quietly removed from the Congress website”, in The Independent

   Synonyms: Fifth Month

2. countableuncountableA female given name, usually pet name for Mary and Margaret, reinforced by the month and plant meaning.

   Sahaiʔa May Talbot was born on Feb. 15, 2014. However, on her birth certificate, her name is spelled Sahai'a because the Northwest Territories government only allows the Roman alphabet to be used on official documents.

   2016 June 13, Hilary Bird, “Baby named Sahaiʔa prompts changes to Vital Statistics Act”, in CBC News, archived from the original on 13 Jun 2016

   3 more examples

   […] 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."

   1856, E. D. E. N. Southworth, The Widow's Son, T. B. Peterson, published 1867, page 210

   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.

   1982, Ruth Rendell, The Fever Tree and Other Stories, Hutchinson, →ISBN, page 119

   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.

   2010, Margaret Forster, Isa & May, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 5

3. countableuncountableA surname from Middle English.
   1. countableuncountableTheresa May, former British prime minister.
4. A number of places in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableA former settlement in Amador County, California.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.
   4. countableuncountableA small town in Harper County, Oklahoma.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Brown County, Texas.
   6. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
   7. countableuncountableA number of townships in the United States, listed under May Township.

plural Mays · alternative abbreviation Ma · alternative Mae

1. A surname.

1. Alternative letter-case form of May.