May Day

American  

noun

1. the first day of May, long celebrated with various festivities, as the crowning of the May queen, dancing around the Maypole, and, in recent years, often marked by labor parades and political demonstrations.

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May Day British  

noun

1. 1. the first day of May, traditionally a celebration of the coming of spring: in some countries now observed as a holiday in honour of workers

   2. ( as modifier )

      May-Day celebrations

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Etymology

Origin of May Day

First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English

Compare meaning

How does may-day compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• May Day vs. Labor Day

Example Sentences

So I started to pile things on the overturned table, until it looked like a moving-van ready for a May-Day migration.

From The Prairie Wife by Dunn, Harvey

It was a little vexing that Lilac was quicker to learn the steps of the dance Miss Ellen was teaching them, and could sing the May-Day song better than she could.

From White Lilac; or the Queen of the May by Walton, Amy

The children: "Pretty May-Day must not go, We have always loved her so."

From The Story of the Big Front Door by Leonard, Mary Finley

Not one of the Wellington festivals could so stir her daughters of the present or the past, now grouped on the edge of the campus, as this Junior May-Day Gambol.

From Molly Brown's Junior Days by Speed, Nell

Then Chapman returned to the humour-comedy and produced two capital specimens of it in May-Day and The Widow's Tears.

From A History of Elizabethan Literature by Saintsbury, George