Mayday

[ mey-dey ]

/ ˈmeɪˌdeɪ /

the international radiotelephone distress signal, used by ships and aircraft.

Origin of Mayday

1925–30; < French ( venez) m'aider (come) help me!

Also like the Air France disaster, the pilots of AirAsia had no time to issue a mayday call.

Did Bad Weather Bring Down AirAsia 8501? |Clive Irving |December 29, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Watch what happens at the scene of a blaze when a radio call of “Mayday!”

Why the White Americans Got the ‘Secret’ Ebola Serum |Michael Daly |August 8, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Launched in May, Mayday PAC has raised nearly $8 million in donations from more than 50,000 contributors.

George Takei Sets Phasers to Reform |Tim Mak |July 15, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Another serious challenge to the Zombie Theory is the absence of any Mayday call from the pilots.

Passenger Flights Must Stop Carrying Lithium-Ion Batteries as Cargo |Clive Irving |May 5, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

After their last routine exchange with controllers the pilots never sent any Mayday or distress message.

The Baseless Rush to Blame the Pilots of Flight 370 |Clive Irving |March 16, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
So that, by "Mayday, 1747," the name was in all men's memories; and has continued ever since.

History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XVI. (of XXI.) |Thomas Carlyle
As a third pleasant anticipation, her class had planned a Mayday picnic at a point about two miles up the river.

Marjorie Dean High School Freshman |Pauline Lester
Somebody pick up our Mayday while we were cruising submerged?

Four-Day Planet |Henry Beam Piper
He expressed in his poems Voluntaries and Mayday views similar to those declared here.

Essays |Ralph Waldo Emerson
But here also his religious views stood in his way; the authorities eventually ordering him to leave the city by Mayday 1573.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 |Various

Mayday

/ (ˈmeɪˌdeɪ) /

the international radiotelephone distress signal

C20: phonetic spelling of French m'aidez help me