May queen
1
8.8
- noun
- UK
:
reina de mayo
- During the festival, the May queen leads the procession while wearing a crown of flowers.
We should make it to May Queen at exactly what Nate projected.
- We should make it to May Queen at exactly what Nate projected.
Examples
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To our May queen!
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Now it's traditional for the May queen to bless our crops and livestock.
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You are our May queen.
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It's just a spring clean for the May queen.
Blog text (1) -
And who are your May queens?
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Are these the May queens?
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That's last year's May queen.
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And to Pelle, who has brought new blood and our new May queen, you will today be honored for your unclouded intuition.
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Each year, the village holds a ceremony to crown a girl as the May queen to celebrate the arrival of spring.
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As the May queen, she was responsible for organizing various activities for the May Day festivities.
Synonyms
1
9.6
A girl chosen to lead May Day celebrations wearing a crown of flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'May' (the month/May Day) with 'queen' (a girl chosen as queen) — a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a girl chosen as the queen of May/May Day celebrations. Although specific cultural knowledge about May Day festivals helps, the construction is compositionally transparent and mirrors similar naming patterns in other languages.
Etymology
The noun May queen comes from May Day celebrations where a girl was crowned with flowers and called the queen of May to show the start of spring. So May queen means 'a girl chosen to represent spring' at a festival.