may

Less common meanings

5. 5
   hope it happensverbsubjunctive

   Used to express a wish that something will happen or be so, with the force of a present subjunctive.

   Long may the old theater keep its doors open.

   We pray that the rains may come before the crops fail.

   UsageIn standalone wishes, may comes before the subject with no question mark: may you be happy, long may it last.

   Note

   Blessings and prayers keep the form alive, and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" (1974) builds a verse from it, ending with a wish, framed with may, that its listener never ages.

6. 6
   verbobsoleteauxiliary

   To be able to do something; can.

   Note

   Readers of older prose stumble on this may, because a modern ear hears possibility or permission where the writer meant plain ability. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy speaks of passions we may resist and will not: passions we are able to resist but refuse to. Read as mere possibility, the line loses its sting, since it is a reproach, not a guess. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Robert Burton wrote The Anatomy of Melancholy. gutenberg.org
   • Burton writes of passions we may resist and will not; the context supports the interpretation of ability contrasted with unwillingness. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   hawthornnoununcountable

   The hawthorn shrub, or the blossoms it produces.

   The may is in full bloom along the hedgerows this week.

   Bees hummed in the may at the edge of the field.

   UsageWritten with a small m, often with the or after of: the may is in bloom, a sprig of may.

   Similarhawthorn, whitethorn

   Note

   Hawthorn took this name from the month it flowers in, and the word reached English from French mai. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The hawthorn name may comes from French mai and refers to the month in which it blossoms. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verbobsoleteintransitive

   To be strong, or to have power over someone or something.

   Note

   Here may stands as a full verb with no second verb beside it, unlike the modern helper, and the use has long since died out. Its line runs through Old English magan back to Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-, and the power it names lies close to the "be able" meaning: to have the power to do a thing is to be able to do it. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • May meaning 'be strong' or 'have power over' was an independent verb, and that sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
   • May descends through Old English magan from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ-. fr.wiktionary.org
   • The historical verb also expressed ability to do something, supporting the connection between power and ability. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   maidennounarchaic

   A maiden, a young woman who is not yet married.

   Note

   A word for family, not for youth, lies behind this may: Old English mǣġ meant a kinswoman, and in Middle English may covered a woman, a maid, a girl or a virgin. It shares only its spelling with the helper verb and the hawthorn. Today it belongs to writing that aims for an old-world tone. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The maiden noun descends from Old English mǣġ, meaning a kinswoman, through Middle English words meaning woman, maid, girl or virgin. en.wiktionary.org
   • The maiden noun has a different origin from the auxiliary verb and the hawthorn noun. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    pick flowersverbliteraryintransitive

    To go maying: to gather hawthorn blossom or other flowers and join in May Day celebrations.

    The village children went maying in the meadows and came back with armfuls of hawthorn for the church.

    Couples wandered maying along the hedgerows, filling their baskets with blossom.

    UsageMost often in the -ing form: go maying.

    Note

    Almost every use of this verb is the -ing form, and it names an outing more than a chore: one goes maying, or rides on maying, into woods and fields. In Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Queen Guinevere tells her knights she will ride on maying near Westminster, and A. E. Housman's Last Poems (1922) still has lovers wander maying. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte Darthur. en.wikisource.org
    • Queen Guinevere tells her knights that she will ride on maying into woods and fields near Westminster. en.wikisource.org
    • A. E. Housman's Last Poems was first published in 1922. trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com
    • Last Poems contains a poem describing lovers wandering maying. gutenberg.org