| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈMay-day1
[May n.3]
a. The first day of May.
Ill (or Evil) May-day: ‘the 1st of May, 1517, when the apprentices of London rose against the privileged foreigners, whose advantages in trade had occasioned great jealousy’ (Nares).
1438in Gross Gild Merch. (1890) II. 65 On Mayday the yerre of our lorde Kyng Henry þe Seixt xvi., anno Dom. 1438. 1541Nottingham Rec. III. 382 Peyd for wyne on May Dey when we rode Mey. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. ii, Out of my doors, you sons of noise and tumult, begot on an ill May-day. 1645Evelyn Diary 1 May, On May⁓day the greate procession of the Universitie and the Mulatiers at St. Antonie's. 16..Songs Lond. Prentices (Percy Soc.) 17 How Ill May-day first got the name. 1863Chambers's Bk. Days I. 571/1 The observances of May Day.
b. attrib., as May-day games, May-day garland, May-day morning; May-day sweep, a chimney-sweeper decorated with ribbons and flowers at the London sweeps' May-day festival.
1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. iv. 15 'Tis as much impossible..To scatter 'em, as 'tis to make 'em sleepe On May-day Morning. 1615Heywood Four Prentices i. B 2 b, Hee will not let mee see a mustering, Nor in a May-day morning fetch in May. 1832Marryat N. Forster xl, The frolic gambols of the may-day sweep. 1843James Forest Days iv, The May-day games of old England. 1850Gosse Rivers Bible (1878) 160 note, As sometimes two hoops are fastened, to carry May-day garlands.
c. attrib., spec. of political processions, celebrations, etc., on the first day of May.
1906[see communism 1 b]. 1930I. Low His Master's Voice x. 120 Scaffolding began to appear in the Red Square for May Day celebrations. 1939[see hunger-march]. 1973Listener 9 Aug. 184 In 1890, during the first of the big May Day demonstrations, we read of trade-union branches assembling from every quarter of London.
▪ II. May-day2
Also Mayday, mayday.
[Phonetic repr. of F. m'aider imper. inf. ‘help me!’, or shortening of venez m'aider.]
An international radio-telephone signal of distress. Also transf. and attrib.
1927Internat. Radio Telegraph Convention 51 Rules apply to the radio telephone distress call which consists of the spoken expression mayday, (corresponding to the French pronunciation of the expression ‘m'aider’..). 1929Times 18 June 16/1 The pilot, after wirelessing the S.O.S. of the Air Service ‘May Day’..endeavoured to return to Lympne aerodrome with the power still at his disposal. 1930B.B.C. Year-Bk. 399 Aircraft and Wireless... In case of distress, due to engine failure over the sea, the word ‘Mayday’—equivalent to the S.O.S. used by ships—transmitted through the microphone, will summon immediately all possible help. 1951O. Berthoud tr. Clostermann's Big Show i. 30 If you can't get back to the coast, bale out after calling ‘May Day’ on frequency D. 1962Listener 1 Mar. 370/2 With the onset of lambing time the farmers' ‘Mayday’ signal begins to hum along the network of telephone wires. 1962Sunday Express 5 Aug. 1/2 Her first ‘Mayday’ distress message came soon after midday. 1971Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 16 May 13/1 When her topmast chains snapped, she radioed a mayday signal. 1971Daily Tel. 23 Aug. 1/5 The radio operator sent a Mayday distress call before the sea rushed into the cabin. |