English Dictionary

may

/meɪ/

verb

(obsolete, intransitive) To be strong; to have power (over). / (obsolete, auxiliary) To be able; can. / (intransitive, poetic) To be able to go.

He may go to the party tonight.

意味（1）

(obsolete, intransitive) To be strong; to have power (over).

意味（2）

(obsolete, auxiliary) To be able; can.

But many times[…]we give way to passions we may resist and will not.

意味（3）

(intransitive, poetic) To be able to go.

O weary night, O long and tedious night,

Abate thy houres, shine comforts from the East,

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 […].

意味（4）

(modal, defective, auxiliary) To have permission to, to be allowed to. Used in granting permission and in questions to make polite requests; takes a simple bare infinitive.

you may smoke outside; may I sit there?

意味（5）

(modal, defective, auxiliary) Used to express a present or future possibility; aspectually, this sense takes a simple, progressive/continuous or perfect bare infinitive.

he may be lying; Schrödinger's cat may or may not be in the box

意味（6）

(modal, defective, subjunctive, auxiliary) Used to express a wish (takes a simple bare infinitive with present subjunctive effect).

may you win; may the weather be sunny

意味（7）

(modal, defective, auxiliary) 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.