mayst
auxiliary verb
Early Modern English
Meaning
May; be allowed to; might. tree →
Then and now
No longer used in ordinary speech; today we say "may" with "you". "Mayst" is the old form used with "thou".
Examples
- Of course thou mayst," said he. (Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales) tree →
- "Thou mayst as well go home then," said Oh, "but thy son shall live with me yet another year." So the man went away, sad at heart. (Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales) tree →
- Are there no barns outside where thou mayst put it up?"--"Hold your tongues, ye accursed wretches!" replied the man; "what has it got to do with you? (Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales) tree →
Note
Today: may.
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «mayst» in the Early Modern English dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «mayst» in the Early Modern English dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/mayst/