may

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 mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.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. [ 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 ]