may

verb11

1. •
   used before a verb to say that it is possible that something is true or will happen

   • he may be lying
   • Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box.
2. •
   To have permission to, be allowed. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests.

   • you may smoke outside
   • may I sit there?
3. •
   Granting the admissibility of a supposition, in a way that can be semantically either subjunctive or indicative.
4. •
   Expressing a disjunctive or contrastive relation between indicative statements.

   • You may be my boss, but that doesn't mean you can insult me.
   • A: Sigh. I'm bummed that Stephen Hawking died. B: Well, he may have died, but he's still alive in our hearts. [This speaker does not doubt that Stephen has died; nonetheless, the verb inflection is not different.]
5. •
   Used in modesty, courtesy, or concession, or to soften a question or remark.

   • How old may Phillis be, you ask, / Whose Beauty thus all Hearts engages. — 1744
6. •
   Expressing a wish (with present subjunctive effect).

   • may you win
   • may the weather be sunny
7. •
   (literary) To be able to go.

   • O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East, That I may backe to Athens by day-light […]. — 1600
8. •
   (literary) To gather may, or flowers in general.

   • In valleys green and still / Where lovers wander maying — 1922
9. •
   (literary) To celebrate May Day.
10. •
    (no longer used) To be able; can.

    • But many times[…]we give way to passions we may resist and will not. — 1624
11. •
    (no longer used) To be strong; to have power (over).

noun2

1. •
   The hawthorn bush or its blossoms.

   • The fire from Lindfield was coming down the grassy hillside to the right between the hedges of may. — 1973
2. •
   (no longer used) A maiden.

noun1

1. •
   The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, following April and preceding June.

   • 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. — 1789