May
proper nounproper nountop 1 000 in film dialogue
- //meɪ//
The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
proper noun
- 1
The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
Holonyms: calendar year; year
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.
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.”
- 2
A female given name, usually pet name for Mary and Margaret, reinforced by the month and plant meaning.
[…] 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."
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.
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.
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.
- 3
A surname from Middle English.
- 4
A surname from Middle English. Theresa May, former British prime minister.
- 5
A number of places in the United States: A former settlement in Amador County, California.
- 6
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in Lemhi County, Idaho.
- 7
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in McDonald County, Missouri.
- 8
A number of places in the United States: A small town in Harper County, Oklahoma.
- 9
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in Brown County, Texas.
- 10
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
- 11
A number of places in the United States: A number of townships in the United States, listed under May Township.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂sder.? Latin Maia Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Italic *-os Old Latin -os Latin -us Latin Maiusder. Old French maibor. Middle English May English May From Middle English May, Mai, from Old French mai, from Latin Maius (“Maia's month”), from Maia, a Roman earth goddess.
proper noun
- 1
A surname.
Etymology
The surname is converged from several origins: * As an English surname, from Middle English May, a pet form of Matthew (see Mayhew). * As an English, Dutch, German, Polish, and Jewish surname, from the name of the month. * Also as an English surname, occasionally a pet form of Mary or Margaret. * Also as an English surname, from the obsolete noun may (“kinsman”), from Old English maga (“son, relative”). * Also as an English surname, from obsolete Middle English mei (“physician”), a borrowing from Old English mege, from Latin medicus. See Mee. * As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Miadhaigh (“descendant of Miadhach”), a name derived from miadh (“honor”). * As a French surname, shortened from Lemay, Dumay. * Also as a French surname, from a derivative of Latin Marius, similar to Mario. * As a Jewish surname, from the town Mayen in Germany. * As a Chinese surname, from 麥 /麦 (see Mai) and 梅 (méi)) (see Mei). * As an Amerindian (Mexico) surname of Mayan origin, from maay (“cloven hoof”), originally "young deer."
Forms
- plural
- Mays
May · The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.
maya · Magic; supernatural power as held by the gods.Maya · A member or descendant of various peoples: a flourishing…Mayan · Of or relating to the Maya people of Central America and…