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Webster 1828 Edition


May-lady

MA'Y-LADY

,
Noun.
The queen or lady of May, in old May-games.

Definition 2024


May-lady

May-lady

English

Noun

May-lady (plural May-ladies)

  1. (now rare, historical) A May Queen.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.10:
      The jolly Satyres, full of fresh delight, / Came dauncing forth, and with them nimbly ledd / Faire Hellenore with girlonds all bespredd, / Whom their May-lady they had newly made […].
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, III.2.2.iii:
      Some light huswife belike, that was dressed like a may lady, and as most of our gentlewomen are.