may, a maiden. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 39; Greene, Description of the Shepherd, l. 57; ed. Dyce, p. 305. Of frequent occurrence in Scottish Ballads, see EDD. (s.v. May, sb.2). ME. mai (Cursor M. 3238); OE. mǣg, a kinswoman, a maiden.
May-game, a mirthful spectacle (metaphorically). Ford, Lover’s Melancholy, i. 2. 10. ‘May games’ were the dancings and merry-makings round the May-pole, after the gathering of the May. See Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses (ed. Furnivall, pp. 149, 305); Herrick’s Hesperides (Corinna’s going a-Maying), &c.
May-lord, a young man chosen to preside over May-day festivities. Beaumont and Fl., Women Pleased, iv. 1 (Soto); Knight of the B. Pestle, iv. 5.
mayneal; see [menial].
maynure; see [maner].
mazard, mazzard, the head. Hamlet, v. 1. 97; Othello, ii. 3. 155. Spelt mazer, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. I, iv. 2 (Fustigo). A fig. use of mazer, a bowl. See Dict., and Notes on Eng. Etym., p. 183.
mazard, to knock on the head, kill; ‘If I had not been a spirit, I had been mazarded’, B. Jonson, Love Restored (Robin Goodfellow).
meach; see [mich].
meacock, an effeminate person, a coward; ‘A meacock wretch’, Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 315; spelt mecocke, ‘As stout as a stockefish, as meeke as a mecocke’, Appius and Virginia (NED.).
mean, in music, the tenor or middle part, Two Gent. i. 2. 95. In use in Warwicksh. as late as 1850, see EDD. (s.v. Mean, sb.1 1). Cp. It. mezzano, ‘a mean or countertenor in musick’, Florio. ME. mene, of songe, ‘Introcentus’ (Prompt. EETS.), also, ‘A Meyne, intercentus’ (Cath. Angl.).