{ } n. [ OF. Aleman, F. Allemand, fr. L. Alemanni, ancient Ger. tribes. ] [ Obs. ] 1. A German. Also adj., German. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The German language. J. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A kind of dance. See Allemande. [ 1913 Webster ]

Almain rivets,
Almayne rivets, or
Alman rivets, a sort of light armor from Germany, characterized by overlapping plates, arranged to slide on rivets, and thus afford great flexibility. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. cheerfully irresponsible.
Syn. -- carefree, happy-go-lucky, harum-scarum, slaphappy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. marked by a carefree unconventionality or disreputableness.
Syn. -- raffish, rakish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. To take dismay or fright; to be filled with dismay. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dismayed p. pr. & vb. n. Dismaying. ] [ OE. desmaien, dismaien, OF. esmaier; pref. es- (L. ex) + OHG. magan to be strong or able; akin to E. may. In English the pref. es- was changed to dis- (L. dis-). See May, v. i. ] 1. To disable with alarm or apprehensions; to depress the spirits or courage of; to deprive or firmness and energy through fear; to daunt; to appall; to terrify. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. Josh. i. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

What words be these? What fears do you dismay? Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To render lifeless; to subdue; to disquiet. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Do not dismay yourself for this. Spenser.

Syn. -- To terrify; fright; affright; frighten; appall; daunt; dishearthen; dispirit; discourage; deject; depress. -- To Dismay, Daunt, Appall. Dismay denotes a state of deep and gloomy apprehension. To daunt supposes something more sudden and startling. To appall is the strongest term, implying a sense of terror which overwhelms the faculties. [ 1913 Webster ]

So flies a herd of beeves, that hear, dismayed,
The lions roaring through the midnight shade. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Jove got such heroes as my sire, whose soul
No fear could daunt, nor earth nor hell control. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now the last ruin the whole host appalls;
Now Greece has trembled in her wooden walls. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. esmai, F. émoi. See Dismay, v. t. ] 1. Loss of courage and firmness through fear; overwhelming and disabling terror; a sinking of the spirits; consternation. [ 1913 Webster ]

I . . . can not think of such a battle without dismay. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou with a tiger spring dost leap upon thy prey,
And tear his helpless breast, o'erwhelmed with wild dismay. Mrs. Barbauld. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Condition fitted to dismay; ruin. Spenser.

Syn. -- Dejection; discouragement; depression; fear; fright; terror; apprehension; alarm; affright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A state of being dismayed; dejection of courage; dispiritedness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Terrifying. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a former mayor. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

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. [ F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the goddess Maia (Gr. Mai^a), daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter. ] 1. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The early part or springtime of life. [ 1913 Webster ]

His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

The palm and may make country houses gay. Nash. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plumes that mocked the may. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The merrymaking of May Day. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spiraea (Spiraea hypericifolia) with many clusters of small white flowers along the slender branches. --
May apple (Bot.), the fruit of an American plant (Podophyllum peltatum). Also, the plant itself (popularly called mandrake), which has two lobed leaves, and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic. --
May beetle,
May bug (Zool.), any one of numerous species of large lamellicorn beetles that appear in the winged state in May. They belong to Melolontha, and allied genera. Called also June beetle. --
May Day, the first day of May; -- celebrated in the rustic parts of England by the crowning of a May queen with a garland, and by dancing about a May pole. --
May dew, the morning dew of the first day of May, to which magical properties were attributed. --
May flower (Bot.), a plant that flowers in May; also, its blossom. See Mayflower, in the vocabulary. --
May fly (Zool.), any species of Ephemera, and allied genera; -- so called because the mature flies of many species appear in May. See Ephemeral fly, under Ephemeral. --
May game, any May-day sport. --
May lady, the queen or lady of May, in old May games. --
May lily (Bot.), the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). --
May pole. See Maypole in the Vocabulary. --
May queen, a girl or young woman crowned queen in the sports of May Day. --
May thorn, the hawthorn. [ 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 ]

adv. [ For it may be. ] Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Maybe the amorous count solicits her. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a liberal and, maybe, somewhat reckless way. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Possible; probable, but not sure. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Then add those maybe years thou hast to live. Driden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Possibility; uncertainty. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

What they offer is mere maybe and shift. Creech. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The whimbrel; -- called also May fowl, May curlew, and May whaap. (b) The knot. [ Southern U. S. ] (c) The bobolink. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The hawthorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The hawthorn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Corrupt. of Médoc, a province in France, where it is supposed to have originated. ] A large dark-red cherry of excellent quality. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A common American minnow (Fundulus majalis). See Minnow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) In England, the hawthorn; in New England, the trailing arbutus (see Arbutus); also, the blossom of these plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Perhaps; peradventure. [ Prov. or Dialectic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The hawthorn tree (Crataegus aestivalis) of the Southern U. S. bearing a juicy acid scarlet fruit often used in jellies or preserves.
Syn. -- summer haw, Crataegus aestivalis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ The same as maim. See Maim. ] 1. (Law) The maiming of a person by depriving him of the use of any of his members which are necessary for defense or protection. See Maim. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Violent disorder, especially such as causes serious harm to persons or damage to property. [ PJC ]

n. The celebrating of May Day. “He met her once a-Maying.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. See Kulturkampf, above. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. In Russia, severe oppressive laws against Jews, which have given occasion for great persecution; -- so called because they received the assent of the czar in May, 1882, and because likened to the Prussian May laws (see Kulturkampf). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F. ] A thick white sauce compounded of raw yolks of eggs beaten up with olive oil to the consistency near to that of a gel, and seasoned with vinegar, pepper, salt, etc.; -- used in dressing salads, fish, etc. Also, a dish dressed with this sauce. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. maire, F. maire, fr. L. major greater, higher, nobler, compar. of magnus great; cf. Sp. mayor. See Major, and cf. Merino. ] The chief magistrate of a city or borough; the chief administrative officer of a municipal corporation. In some American cities there is a city court of which the major is chief judge. The post is usually elective, its holder chosen by the electorate of the entire city. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp., fr. mayor greater, L. major. ] The conductor of a mule team; also, a head shepherd. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a mayor; as, the mayoral limousine. [ PJC ]

n. The office, or the term of office, of a mayor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The wife of a mayor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A woman who is mayor. [ PJC ]

n. The office of a mayor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tall pole erected in an open place and wreathed with flowers, about which the rustic May-day sports were had. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perh. corrupt. fr. maracock. ] (Bot.) The edible fruit of a passion flower, especially that of the North American Passiflora incarnata, an oval yellowish berry as large as a small apple. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A composite plant (Anthemis Cotula), having a strong odor; dog's fennel. It is a native of Europe, now common by the roadsides in the United States. (b) The feverfew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the middle part of May. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Indian name. ] (Zool.) A large North American lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). It is usually spotted with red, and sometimes weighs over forty pounds. Called also Mackinaw trout, lake trout, lake salmon, salmon trout, togue, and tuladi. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Skr. Rāmāya&nsdot_;a. ] The more ancient of the two great epic poems in Sanskrit. The hero and heroine are Rama and his wife Sita. [ 1913 Webster ]