Italian may (Bot.), a shrubby species of Spiræa (S. 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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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.
||Ma"ya (mä"yä), n. (Hindoo Philos.) The name for the doctrine of the
||unreality of matter, called, in English, idealism; hence,
||nothingness; vanity; illusion.
May"be (?), adv. [For it may be.] Perhaps; possibly; peradventure.
Maybe the amorous count solicits her.
Shak.
In a liberal and, maybe, somewhat reckless way.
Tylor.