v. [ imp. Might [ AS. pres. maeg I am able, pret. meahte, mihte; akin to D. mogen, G. mögen, OHG. mugan, magan, Icel. mega, Goth. magan, Russ. moche. √103. Cf. Dismay, Main strength, Might. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word. ] An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. [ 1913 Webster ]

How may a man, said he, with idle speech,
Be won to spoil the castle of his health! Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

For what he [ the king ] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

For of all sad words of tongue or pen
The saddest are these: “It might have been.” Whittier. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) Liberty; permission; allowance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou mayst be no longer steward. Luke xvi. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance
Some general maxims, or be right by chance. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. [ 1913 Webster ]

How old may Phillis be, you ask. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. “May you live happily.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

May be, and
It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia (Gr. Mai^a), daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter. ] 1. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The early part or springtime of life. [ 1913 Webster ]

His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

The palm and may make country houses gay. Nash. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plumes that mocked the may. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The merrymaking of May Day. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spiraea (Spiraea hypericifolia) with many clusters of small white flowers along the slender branches. --
May apple (Bot.), the fruit of an American plant (Podophyllum peltatum). Also, the plant itself (popularly called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic. --
May beetle,
May bug (Zool.), any one of numerous species of large lamellicorn beetles that appear in the winged state in May. They belong to Melolontha, and allied genera. Called also June beetle. --
May Day, the first day of May; -- celebrated in the rustic parts of England by the crowning of a May queen with a garland, and by dancing about a May pole. --
May dew, the morning dew of the first day of May, to which magical properties were attributed. --
May flower (Bot.), a plant that flowers in May; also, its blossom. See Mayflower, in the vocabulary. --
May fly (Zool.), any species of Ephemera, and allied genera; -- so called because the mature flies of many species appear in May. See Ephemeral fly, under Ephemeral. --
May game, any May-day sport. --
May lady, the queen or lady of May, in old May games. --
May lily (Bot.), the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). --
May pole. See Maypole in the Vocabulary. --
May queen, a girl or young woman crowned queen in the sports of May Day. --
May thorn, the hawthorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. maer, Goth. mawi; akin to E. maiden. √103. ] A maiden. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. 1. (Hindu Philos.) The name (in Vedantic philosphy) for the doctrine of the unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence, nothingness; vanity; illusion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Hindu Philos.) the Hindu goddess personifying the power that creates phenomena. [ RHUD ] [ PJC ]

3. (Hindu Philos.) the power to produce illusions. [ RHUD ] [ PJC ]

prop. n.; pl. Maya or Mayas. 1. the Indian people occupying the area of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of Salvador. The Maya peoples are dark, short, and brachycephalic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops, were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were workers of gold, silver, and copper. Their architecture comprised elaborately carved temples and palaces, and they possessed a superior calendar, and a developed system of hieroglyphic writing, with records said to go back to about 700 a. d. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

2. the language of the Mayas. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

{ }. A form of corbel arch employing regular small corbels. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

prop. n. A small genus of delicate mossy bog plants having white or violet flowers.
Syn. -- genus Mayaca. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Designating, or pertaining to, an American Indian linguistic stock occupying the Mexican States of Veracruz, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, together with a part of Guatemala and a part of El Salvador. See 2nd Maya. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Of or pertaining to the Mayas. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. North American herb (Podophyllum peltatum) with poisonous root stock and an edible though insipid egg-shaped yellowish fruit; called also wild mandrake.
Syn. -- May apple, wild mandrake, Podophyllum peltatum. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. The fruit of the mayapple{ 1 }. [ PJC ]

adv. [ For it may be. ] Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Maybe the amorous count solicits her. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a liberal and, maybe, somewhat reckless way. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]