Mayday

[ mey-dey ]

noun

1. the international radiotelephone distress signal, used by ships and aircraft.

Mayday

/ ˈmeɪˌdeɪ /

noun

1. the international radiotelephone distress signal

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mayday¹

First recorded in 1925–30; from French (venez) m'aider “(come) help me,” contraction of m(e) “me” ( me ( def ) ) aider “to help” ( aid ( def ) )

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mayday¹

C20: phonetic spelling of French m'aidez help me

Example Sentences

Also like the Air France disaster, the pilots of AirAsia had no time to issue a mayday call.

From The Daily Beast

Watch what happens at the scene of a blaze when a radio call of “Mayday!”

From The Daily Beast

Launched in May, Mayday PAC has raised nearly $8 million in donations from more than 50,000 contributors.

From The Daily Beast

Another serious challenge to the Zombie Theory is the absence of any Mayday call from the pilots.

From The Daily Beast

After their last routine exchange with controllers the pilots never sent any Mayday or distress message.

From The Daily Beast

I saw a car heading for the scene so I gained more altitude and circled the area while calling "Mayday" on the radio.

From Project Gutenberg

Emersons Mayday, from which I just now quoted, has no real evolution at all; it is a series of observations.

From Project Gutenberg

Now one hundred years ago, Mayday was looked forward to with glee by all English children living in the country.

From Project Gutenberg

All the children who had given up their Mayday money to Susan were playing on the green.

From Project Gutenberg

He expressed in his poems Voluntaries and Mayday views similar to those declared here.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• admonition
• advice
• alarm
• alert
• caution
• example
• guidance
• hint
• indication
• information
• lesson
• notification
• prediction
• recommendation
• sign
• signal
• suggestion
• threat
• word