May-bush
[May n.3]
a. A branch of hawthorn. b. The hawthorn or may-tree.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. May 34 O that I were there, To helpen the Ladyes their Maybush beare. 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. xxii. 1146 Many do call the tree it selfe the May bush, as a chiefe token of the comming in of May. 1598 Florio, Bagaia, the white-thorne, hawthorne tree, or landouers maie bush. 1727 W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 126 Scandalous Sports and Pastimes, such as May-Bushes, Morris-Dancing. 1781 C. Johnston Hist. J. Juniper II. 136 His tawney face looked just like that of a chimney-sweeper's boy peeping through his may-bush. 1861 Neale Notes Eccl. & Pict. Dalmatia, etc. 164 Red May-bushes sending out their fragrance. |