| 释义 |
May, n.3|meɪ|
Forms: 4–5 Maij, 4–6 Maii, 5–6 Mai, 6 Maie, Maye, 3– May. Also in Latin form 1–4 Maius, (4 Mayus).
[a. F. mai:—L. Maium (nom. Maius, sc. mēnsis). Cf. Pr. mai, Sp. mayo, Pg. maio, It. maggio; also (from Fr.) MHG. Mei(g)e (G. Mai), MDu. mey(e, meide (Du. Mei), Sw. Maj, Da. Mai, late Gr. Μάϊος.
The etymology of the Latin name is obscure; some ancient writers connected it with the name of the goddess Maia.]
1. a. The fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendar.
c1050Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 316 Nouember & december habbað fif & twentiᵹ ealdne monan..& aprelis & maius eahta & twentiᵹ. a1121OE. Chron. an. 1080 (MS. E) Þis dydon Norðhymbran on Maies monðe. c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 26/83 (St. Austin of Canterbury) His day is toward þe ende of May. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1098, I may not slepe neuere a Mayes morwe. c1391― Astrol. i. §10 Ianuare, Februare, Marcius, Aprile, Mayus [etc.]. a1400–50Alexander 3699 Þai made as mery melody & musik þai sanng As in þe moneths of Mai or mydsomere euyn. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 23 When the larke..Salveth the uprist of the sonne shene,..in April and in May. 1598Barnfield Ode, As it fell vpon a Day, In the merrie Month of May. c1630Milton Sonn. Nightingale, While the jolly hours lead on propitious May. 1784Cowper Task vi. 62 The season smiles,..And has the warmth of May.
personified.c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 50 In may þat moder is of monethes glade. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 82 There saw I May, of myrthfull monethis quene. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, v. i. 79 She came adorned hither like sweet May. 1630Milton On May morning 5 Hail bounteous May, that dost inspire Mirth and youth and warm desire. 1826–34Wordsw. To May i, Though many suns have risen and set Since thou, blithe May, wert born.
b. In proverbial and allusive phrases.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 92 He was as fressh as is the Monthe of May. 1508Dunbar Gold. Targe 261 Surmounting ewiry tong terrestriall, Alls fer as Mayes morow dois myd⁓nycht. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 102. 1599 ― Much Ado i. i. 194 There's her cosin..exceedes her as much in beautie, as the first of Maie doth the last of December. 1600― A.Y.L. iv. i. 148. 1658 H. Plumptre Let. in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 6 Wishing that all your yeares yet to come..may partake more of Mayes then Julyes. 1659Howell Prov. 11/1 As welcome as Flowers in May. 1732T. Fuller Gnomologia 276 Leave not off a Clout Till May be out. 1742Gray Spring 50 We frolick, while 'tis May. 1889D. Hannay Capt. Marryat 150 If he had not spent his summer while it was May—at least he had run through it far too soon.
c. fig. Bloom, prime, heyday. poet.
a1586Sidney Astr. & Stella xxi. (1591) B 2, If now the May of my yeeres much decline. 1599Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 76. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. i, We both were rivals in our May of blood Unto Maria. 1633Massinger Guardian i. i, I am in the May of my abilities, And you in your December. 1847Tennyson Princess ii. 439 Others lay about the lawns, Of the older sort, and murmur'd that their May Was passing. 1859― Elaine 553 A Prince, In the mid might and flourish of his May.
d. May and January or December: used to describe the marriage of a young woman to an old man.
c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 449 That she, this mayden, which þat Mayus highte..Shal wedded be vn-to this Ianuarie. Ibid. 642 Thilke day That Ianuarie hath wedded fresshe May. 1581T. Howell Devises I ij, In fayth doth frozen Ianus double face, Such fauour finde, to match with pleasant Maye. 1606Dekker Sev. Sins (Arb.) 44 You doe wrong to Time, inforcing May to embrace December. 1891R. Buchanan Coming Terror 267 When asthmatic January weds buxom May.
2. The festivities of May-day. Queen of the May, † Queen of May, Lady of the May (cf. May-lady): a girl chosen to be ‘queen’ of the games on May-day, being gaily dressed and crowned with flowers. † King, Lord of (the) May = May-lord.
1506Acc. Ld. Treas. Scot. (1901) III. 195 Item, to ane Quene of Maij at the Abbay ȝet, be the Kingis command xiiijs. 1515in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp. Stortford (1882) 34 Item pd for brede and ale th same day that Sabysford may was whan they of Sabysford did come rydynd to the toune to sett ther may. 1568T. Howell Arbour of Amitie 36 b, Ich beare the banner before my Lorde of May. 1577Gen. Assembly in Child Ballads III. 45 Discharge playes of Robin Hood, King of May, and sick others, on the Sabboth day. 1611Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burn. Pestle v. iii, I..by all men chosen was Lord of the May. a1634Randolph Amyntas Prol., How shall we talk to nymphs so trim and gay, That ne'er saw lady yet but at a May? 1673Dryden Marr. à la mode ii. 28 Then I was made the Lady of the May. 1686Loyal Garland (ed. 5) B 5, Cloris Queen of all the May. 1711Steele Spect. No. 80 ⁋2 The Girls preceded their parents like Queens of May, in all the gaudy Colours imaginable, on every Sunday to Church. 1802–16Mrs. Sherwood Susan Gray ix. (1869) 58 Why, Susan, you look as handsome as the queen of May in that hat. 1832Tennyson May Queen i, For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.
3. Blossoms of the hawthorn (Cratægus Oxyacantha); hence occas., the tree itself: so called because it blooms in the month of May.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 7 b, On May daye..hys grace..rose in the mornynge very early to fetche May or grene bows. 1592Nashe Summers Last Will (1600) B 3 The Palme and May make countrey houses gay. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xxviii. 413 In this moone and moneth, which is when they bring Maie from the fieldes into the house. 1626Jackson Creed viii. xix. §1 By such a maner or trope of speech, as the English and French doe call the buds or flowers of haw⁓thorne May. 1820Shelley Question iii, The moonlight-coloured May. 1848J. H. Newman Loss & Gain ii. 5 The laburnums are out, and the may. 1866M. Arnold Thyrsis vi, With blossoms red and white of fallen May.
4. Cambridge Univ.
a. (sing. or pl.) = May examination;
b. (pl.) = May races: see 5.
1852C. A. Bristed 5 Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 63 The College Easter Term Examination, familiarly spoken of as ‘the May’. Ibid. 64 The ‘May’ is one of the features which distinguishes Cambridge from Oxford; at the latter there are no public College examinations. 1879‘Julian Home’ Sk. Camb. 53 And in the trials, in the Mays, From stroke to bow,..they keep the river head. 1901Daily Chron. 6 May 8/3 The annual ‘Mays’—paradoxically held in June—are fixed for the 5th of the latter month and following days.
5. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) May-born, May glad adjs., May-hope, May-mess, May morning, May-night, May season, May time (also attrib.), May-yeaned adj.; (also with reference to 1 c) May month, May moon, May morn; (sense 2) May-eve, May feast, May fool, May-keeper; (sense 3) may-bloom, May-blossom, May-blossomed adj., May bough, May branch, † May busket, May leaf, May tree; † may ale, ? an ale-drinking held on May-day; † May bishop, an opprobrious name for a titular bishop; May-drink [= G. maitrank, Du. meidrank], white wine medicated with woodruff, drunk in Belgium and northern Germany; May examination, a college examination held at the end of the Easter term at Cambridge; May-gad (see quot. and gad n.1 5); May-Hill, used in the phrase to have climbed May Hill, to have passed through the part of the year most dangerous to health (perh. with allusion to May Hill as a local name); May-house (see quot.); † May-king = king of the May (see 2); May-kitten, ? a kitten born in May; † May-like adv., with the freshness of May; † May Marian (see quot. and cf. Maid Marian); May meetings, a series of annual meetings of various religious and philanthropic societies held during the month of May in Exeter Hall, London, and other buildings; May queen, the Queen of the May (see 2); hence May queenship; May races, intercollegiate boat races held in the Easter term at Cambridge (now in June); † May-roll v. trans., to roll in the grass as a May-day game; † May-sel, May-time; † May skin, ? the skin of a sheep sheared in May; May-term, colloq. name for the Easter term at Cambridge; May-week, the week of the May races at Cambridge; † May wool, ? wool taken from a sheep in May. Also May-butter, -day, -dew, -game, -lady, -lord, etc.
1516in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp. Stortford (1882) 35 Item resseyvyd of the *may ale above all charge ls.
1565Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 585 Your late Chapter of Trident, with your worthie number of forty Prelates, whereof certaine were onlie *May Bishops, otherwise by you called Nullatenses.
1818Todd, *May-bloom, the hawthorn.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. ii. Wks. 1616 I. 248 Mer. Sweet Madames..your brests and forehead are whiter then gotes milke, or *May-blossomes. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 575 A damsel of high lineage, and a brow May-blossom, and a cheek of apple blossom.
a1789Mickle Eskdale Braes 29 The *May-blossom'd thorn.
1788Turnbull Laura, The sweetest *May-born flowers Paint the meadows.
1530Palsgr. 666/1 In stede of a trapper he pricked his horse full of *maye bowes.
1560in Sowerby Eng. Bot. (1864) III. 240 Those boys who choose it may rise at four oclock to gather *May branches. 1823in Hone Every-day Bk. (1859) I. 565 On May morning..the girls look with some anxiety for their May-branch.
1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 10 To gather *may bus-kets and smelling brere.
1850Longfellow Gold. Leg. i. Court-yard of Castle, Fill me a goblet of *May-drink, As aromatic as the May From which it steals the breath away.
16..Songs Lond. Prentices (Percy Soc.) 18 Upon *May Eve As prentices on Maying went. 1825Croker Fairy Leg. & Trad. S. Ireland I. 307 May-eve is considered a time of peculiar danger. Ibid. 308 Another custom prevalent on May-eve is the painful and mischievous one of stinging with nettles.
1852C. A. Bristed 5 Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 85 After the trial heat of the first *May examination, the field of candidates for Honours begins to assume something like a calculable form.
1778Hutchinson View Northumb., Anc. Customs 14 The syllabub, prepared for the *May feast.
a1591H. Smith Serm. (1594) 394 May-games, and May poales, and *May fooles, and Morris-dancers are vanitie.
1724Stukeley Itin. Curios. I. 29 Making a procession to this hill with *may gads (as they call them) in their hands, this is a white willow wand the bark peel'd off, ty'd round with cowslips.
1911E. Pound Canzoni 4 No poppy in the *May-glad mead.
a1661Fuller Worthies, Derbysh. (1662) i. 252 Whereas, in our remembrance, Ale went out when Swallows came in,..it now hopeth (having climed up *May-hill) to continue its course all the year.
a1889G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 38 *May-hope of our darkened ways!
1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 89 From the trunk of the chestnut the *May-houses commence. They are covered alleys built of green boughs, decorated with garlands and great bunches of flowers..hanging down like chandeliers among the dancers.
1904Edin. Rev. Jan. 55 Other *May-keepers whose symbols are now but relics.
1519W. Horman Vulg. 277 b, It is the custome that euery yere we shal haue a *may kynge.
1690Dryden Amphitryon iii. 33 Blear-ey'd, like a *May-Kitten.
1844Mrs. Browning Lost Bower xxix, There fell Two white *may-leaves..From a blossom.
1592T. L[odge] Euph. Shadow (1882) 16 When..I..*May-like young, of pleasure gan to taste.
1582C. Fetherstone Dial. agst. Dancing D 7, In your maygames.. you doe vse to attyre men in womans apparrell, whom you doe most commenly call *maymarrions.
1849Clough Dipsychus i. iv, Sweet eloquence! at next *May Meeting How it would tell in the repeating!
1877G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 67 Look, look: a *May-mess, like on orchard boughs!
1470–85Malory Arthur xviii. xxv. 771 Lyke as *may moneth floreth and floryssheth in many gardens. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus (1876) 8 In the May moneth of my blooming yeares. 1737Fielding Tumble-Down Dick Ded., A play judiciously brought on by you in the May-month.
1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. Ep. Ded. (Arb.) 43 In the *May⁓moone of my youth. 1813Moore Yng. May Moon 1 The young May moon is beaming, love.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 120 My thrice-puissant Liege Is in the very *May-Morne of his Youth. 1878Browning Poets Croisic xv, On May⁓morns, that primeval rite Of temple-building..lingers.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 5 On a *May [Text A. Mayes] mornynge on Maluerne hulles. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 156 More matter for a May morning.
1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xviii. (xv.), The hand was..white and fragrant as the frosted blossom of a *May-night.
1832Tennyson (title) The *May Queen.
1881Ruskin Lett., to Faunthorpe (1895) I. 49, I hope the *May Queenship is beginning to be thought of.
1893in Camb. Univ. Almanack (1894) 209 During the Lent or *May Races.
1656R. Fletcher Poems 210 The game at best, the girls *May rould must bee.
1508Dunbar Tua mariit Wemen 24 Grein..as the gress that grew in *May sessoun.
14..Stockh. Med. MS. ii. 407 in Anglia XVIII, Ȝif it be gaderid in *may-sel.
1497Halyburton Ledger (1867) 46 Item..a sek off *May skynis contenand 300. 1534–5Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 109 Pro xj may skynnes.
1905Cambr. Review 4 May 281/1 The *May term is seldom a good time for serious concerts.
c1350Will. Palerne (1881) 823 Alle freliche foules þat on þat friþ songe, for merþe of þat *may time þei made moche noyce. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Island xii. lxxxii. 179 More fruitfull then the May-time Geminies. 1804Wordsw. ‘She was a Phantom of delight’, But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn. 1930T. S. Eliot Ash-Wednesday 14 The broadbacked figure..Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute. 1963A. Clarke Coll. Plays 161 Who will wash them by the river's edge, Hang them unseen upon as white a hedge In Maytime?
1895Cassell's Fam. Mag. June 518 So many visitors are attracted to Cambridge for the ‘*May week’.
1720Strype Stow's Surv. (1754) II. v. xiv. 325/2 Fallen *May wool rotten and other ill wool.
1884Century Mag. Feb. 518 In June, when the *May-yeaned lambs were skipping in the sunshine.
b. In names (chiefly local) of animals: May-beetle, the cockchafer; also, the chovy; May-bird, the whimbrel, Numenius phæopus; U.S. the bobolink (Bartlett Dict. Amer. 1859); May-chafer [cf. G. maikäfer] = May-beetle (in quot. fig.); † May-chick = May-bird; † May-chit (see chit n.4); May-curlew = May-bird; May fish, a name for the twait shad, because of its entering rivers in May; U.S. a killifish, Fundulus majalis; May-fowl, -jack = May-bird; May parr, peal, local names for salmon at certain stages of growth; May-skate, the sharp-nosed ray, Raia oxyrhyncha; May-sucker U.S., the hare-lipped sucker, Quassilabia lacera; † May-worm, an oil-beetle (genus Meloe). Also May-bug, may-fly.
1720E. Albin Nat. Hist. Insects 60 In the middle of May came forth a brown Beetle called the Chafer, Oak Web, or *May Beetle. 1842T. W. Harris Insects injur. Veget. (1862) 31 The best time..for shaking the trees on which the May-beetles are lodged, is in the morning. 1860J. Curtis Farm Insects, Index, May-bug or beetle—Anisoplia horticola.
1864E. Cornw. Words in Jrnl. Roy. Inst. Cornw. Mar. 18 *May-bird, the whimbrel. 1870H. Stevenson Birds Norf. II. 199 The appearance of the main body [of whimbrels] in May..is so invariable that this species is alway spoken of as the ‘May bird’ by the gunners in both localities.
1827Carlyle Germ. Rom. III. 132 Your idle *May-chafers and Court-celestials.
1577Exp. Entert. Gorhambury in Nichols Progr. Eliz. (1823) II. 57 Quails..*Maychicks..Malards.
1885Swainson Prov. Names Birds 200 Whimbrel... *May curlew..(Ireland).
1836Yarrell Fishes II. 133 The Twaite Shad..in consequence of the time of its annual visit to some of the rivers of the European Continent is called the *May-fish. 1896Jordan & Evermann Fishes N. & Mid. Amer. i. 639 Killifish; Mayfish; Rockfish.
1852Macgillivray Hist. Brit. Birds IV. 253 [Syn.] Whimbrel, Little Curlew..*Mayfowl.
1880Antrim & Down Gloss., *May jack, the whimbrel.
1841Penny Cycl. XX. 364/1 The smaller summer parrs (called, in Dumfriesshire, *May parrs).
1861Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 109 §4 All migratory fish of the genus salmon, whether known by the names..mort, peal, herring peal, *may peal, pugg peal, harvest cock,..or by any other local name.
1828Fleming Hist. Brit. Anim. 171 Raia oxyrinchus. Sharp-nosed Ray... White Skate, Friar Skate, *May Skate.
1884Goode Nat. Hist. Usef. Aquatic Anim. 614 The ‘Rabbit-mouth’, ‘Hare-lip’,..or ‘*May Sucker’ is found in abundance in many rivers of Tennessee and..Ohio.
1658Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1017 They hang the *May-worm (for so he cals the Oyl-beetle) about the neck with a thred, especially in the moneth of May.
c. In names of plants and fruits: May-bean (see quot.); May-blob, the marsh marigold, Caltha palustris; also applied to other plants (see Eng. Dial. Dict.); † May-blossom, lily of the valley (see also 5 above); May-cherry, (a) a small early kind of cherry; (b) U.S. the fruit of Amelanchier canadensis, the June-berry; † May-fern (see quot.); May gowan (see gowan 2); † May grapes, Botrychium Lunaria; May grass, Panicum latifolium (J. T. Maycock Flora Barbadensis 1830, 61); May-haw (see haw n.2 3); May lily, lily of the valley (see lily 2); May-pop U.S., the fruit of the passion-flower, esp. of Passiflora incarnata; also, the plant itself; May-rose, a name for any rose flowering in May; also the guelder rose, Viburnum Opulus; May-thorn, the hawthorn; May-wort, Galium cruciatum (Treas. Bot. 1866). Also May-apple, May-bush, may duke, mayflower.
1802Eng. Encycl. IV. 473/1 The *May-beans are a larger sort of ticks, and somewhat earlier ripe.
1863*May-blob [see granny's nightcap]. 1881S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 192 May-blob, the marsh-marigold. 1908Pacific Monthly XX. 94/2 Could they or their children after them pick out a May-blob from a May-pop? 1916D. H. Lawrence Amores 38, I can smell the gorgeous bog-end, in its breathless Dazzle of may-blobs. 1960Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 4/2 Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)... The plant has many other names such as Kingcup and May Blobs.
1578Lyte Dodoens ii. xxvi. 178 Lyllie Conuall, is now called..in English..*May blossoms.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort., May (1679) 16 The *May-Cherry. 1713Addison Guardian No. 97 ⁋4 To Zelinda two sticks of May-Cherries. 1718J. Lawrence Fruit-g. Kalendar 78 The little early May-Cherry is indeed worth nothing. 1832L. Hunt Sir R. Esher (1850) 142 The finest apples and pears, strawberries, and May-cherries. 1884Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. (10th Census IX.) 84 Amelanchier Canadensis... May Cherry.
1658tr. Bergerac's Satyr. Char. xii. 41 A girdle of *May⁓fearne [orig. fougere de May] woven in tresses.
1548Turner Names of Herbes (E.D.S.) 85 Lunaria minor, which may be called in englishe litle Lunary or *Maye Grapes, the duch cal this herbe..meydruuen.
1868Amer. Naturalist II. 468 They [sc. deer] visit the ponds in which the *May⁓haw grows, the fruit of which is juicy with the flavor of the apple. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xi. 112 He concentrated on light bread and mayhaw jelly.
1851De Bow's Rev. XI. 49 *May Pop, Passion Flower, is also abundant here. 1887J. C. Harris Free Joe, etc. (1888) 200 An' I fotch you some May⁓pops too.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Rose, The small red rose, commonly called the *May rose. 1802–16Mrs. Sherwood Susan Gray xiii. (1869) 94 In her hand she had a bunch of May-roses.
1844Mrs. Browning Vis. Poets Concl. 105, I receive The *maythorn, and its scent outgive! 1882Keary Outlines Prim. Belief 107 Even the maythorn is to be met with. |