Maypole

[ mey-pohl ]

noun(often lowercase)
  1. a tall pole, decorated with flowers and ribbons, around which people dance or engage in sports during May Day celebrations.

Origin of Maypole

1
First recorded in 1545–55; May + pole1

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Maypole in a sentence

  • From the Maypoles flew frequently the ruddy cross of Christopher or George.

    Archaic England | Harold Bayley
  • Round these Maypoles the young villagers danced, and green booths were often set up on the grass near them.

    Miscellanea | Juliana Horatia Ewing
  • I am afraid there is a good deal of evidence to show that the Maypoles were not always honestly come by!

    Miscellanea | Juliana Horatia Ewing
  • She had evidently been one of those tall thin maypoles of women who have but little tenderness in them.

    Prisoners | Mary Cholmondeley
  • One ordinance directed that all the Maypoles in England should forthwith be hewn down.

British Dictionary definitions for maypole

maypole

/ (ˈmeɪˌpəʊl) /


noun
  1. a tall pole fixed upright in an open space during May-Day celebrations, around which people dance holding streamers attached at its head

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012