MIGHT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Might

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verb

May v. (past might) An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing:

(a)

Ability, competency, or possibility; now oftener expressed by can. "How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health!" "For what he (the king) may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible." "For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: "It might have been.""

(b)

Liberty; permission; allowance. "Thou mayst be no longer steward."

(c)

Contingency or liability; possibility or probability. "Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance."

(d)

Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. "How old may Phillis be, you ask."

(e)

Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. "May you live happily."

May be, and It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.

Might v. Imp. of May.

noun

Might n. Force or power of any kind, whether of body or mind; energy or intensity of purpose, feeling, or action; means or resources to effect an object; strength; force; power; ability; capacity. "What so strong, But wanting rest, will also want of might?" "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

With might and main. See under 2d Main.

See images of 'Might'

Etymology of 'Might'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Might" Quotes from Famous Books

... them was keen, every one seeking as the first end in life to secure a seat on the coach for himself and to leave it to his child after him. By the rule of the coach a man could leave his seat to whom he wished, but on the other hand there were many accidents by which it might at any time be wholly lost. For all that they were so easy, the seats were very insecure, and at every sudden jolt of the coach persons were slipping out of them and falling to the ground, where they were instantly compelled to take hold ...

— Looking Backward - 2000-1887 • Edward Bellamy

... they walked forward he walked forward, when they halted he halted, when they slept he slept, when they awoke he awoke; nay, when they were weary he felt weariness. But for all the profit it brought him he might still have been sitting under the tree; for their eyes would not see him, and his talk to ...

— Fort Amity • Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

... it came to pass, fer weeks them miners might be found A-sneakin' round on Riley's ranch, an' snipin' at the ground; Till even Riley stops an' stares, an' presently allows: "Them boys appear to take a mighty interest in cows." An' night an' day they shadowed each auriferous bovine, An' panned the grass-roots on their trail, ...

— Rhymes of a Rolling Stone • Robert W. Service

... (for, although now sixteen years of age, he was too small to reach both arms at the same time), began lecturing Professor Smith for his non-attendance at an earlier hour, remarking that a different example to younger members was expected from him, and expressing a hope that it might not again be necessary to recur to the subject. Having finished his lecture, to the great amusement of the society, he requested the professor to resume his seat. The incident, as may well be imagined, long ...

— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... Peter I., in sacrificing ten Russians for one Swede, thought that he was not sustaining merely an equal loss, but even gaining by so terrible a bargain. But what caused the greatest pain, was the idea that so sanguinary a conflict might ...

— History of the Expedition to Russia - Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 • Count Philip de Segur

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