资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ephemeral \E*phem"er*al\, a.
   1. Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer
      than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.

   2. Short-lived; existing or continuing for a short time only.
      ``Ephemeral popularity.'' --V. Knox.

            Sentences not of ephemeral, but of eternal,
            efficacy.                             --Sir J.
                                                  Stephen.

   {Ephemeral fly} (Zo["o]l.), one of a group of neuropterous
      insects, belonging to the genus {Ephemera} and many allied
      genera, which live in the adult or winged state only for a
      short time. The larv[ae] are aquatic; -- called also {day
      fly} and {May fly}.

May \May\, n. [F. Mai, L. Maius; so named in honor of the
   goddess Maia (Gr. ?), daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury
   by Jupiter.]
   1. The fifth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.
      --Chaucer.

   2. The early part or springtime of life.

            His May of youth, and bloom of lustihood. --Shak.

   3. (Bot.) The flowers of the hawthorn; -- so called from
      their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn.

            The palm and may make country houses gay. --Nash.

            Plumes that micked the may.           --Tennyson.

   4. The merrymaking of May Day. --Tennyson.

   {Italian may} (Bot.), a shrubby species of {Spir[ae]a} ({S.
      hypericifolia}) with many clusters of small white flowers
      along the slender branches.

   {May apple} (Bot.), the fruit of an American plant
      ({Podophyllum peltatum}). Also, the plant itself
      (popularly called {mandrake}), which has two lobed leaves,
      and bears a single egg-shaped fruit at the forking. The
      root and leaves, used in medicine, are powerfully drastic.
      

   {May beetle}, {May bug} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous
      species of large lamellicorn beetles that appear in the
      winged state in May. They belong to {Melolontha}, and
      allied genera. Called also {June beetle}.

   {May Day}, the first day of May; -- celebrated in the rustic
      parts of England by the crowning of a May queen with a
      garland, and by dancing about a May pole.

   {May dew}, the morning dew of the first day of May, to which
      magical properties were attributed.

   {May flower} (Bot.), a plant that flowers in May; also, its
      blossom. See {Mayflower}, in the vocabulary.

   {May fly} (Zo["o]l.), any species of {Ephemera}, and allied
      genera; -- so called because the mature flies of many
      species appear in May. See {Ephemeral fly}, under
      {Ephemeral}.

   {May game}, any May-day sport.

   {May lady}, the queen or lady of May, in old May games.

   {May lily} (Bot.), the lily of the valley ({Convallaria
      majalis}).

   {May pole}. See {Maypole} in the Vocabulary.

   {May queen}, a girl or young woman crowned queen in the
      sports of May Day.

   {May thorn}, the hawthorn.