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# mayest

auxiliary verb

«mayest» in the English dictionary: Early Modern English — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Early Modern English

### Meaning

May; be allowed to; might. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mayest/#m1)

### Then and now

No longer used in ordinary speech; today we say "may" or "might" with "you". "Mayest" is the old form used with "thou".

### Examples

- And she said: 'What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?' (Torah GEN.38.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mayest/#x1)
- “And that thou mayest be cast out of another pack. (The Jungle Book) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mayest/#x2)
- And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; (Torah GEN.2.16, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mayest/#x3)

### Note

Today: may.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «mayest» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/M/mayest/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«mayest» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/mayest.html) on Mova free.