make

make¹

—makable, adj.

/mayk/, v., made, making, n.

v.t.

1. to bring into existence by shaping or changing material, combining parts, etc.: to make a dress; to make a channel; to make a work of art.

2. to produce; cause to exist or happen; bring about: to make trouble; to make war.

3. to cause to be or become; render: to make someone happy.

4. to appoint or name: The President made her his special envoy.

5. to put in the proper condition or state, as for use; fix; prepare: to make a bed; to make dinner.

6. to bring into a certain form: to make bricks out of clay.

7. to convert from one state, condition, category, etc., to another: to make a virtue of one's vices.

8. to cause, induce, or compel: to make a horse jump a barrier.

9. to give rise to; occasion: It's not worth making a fuss over such a trifle.

10. to produce, earn, or win for oneself: to make a good salary; to make one's fortune in oil.

11. to write or compose: to make a short poem for the occasion.

12. to draw up, as a legal document; draft: to make a will.

13. to do; effect: to make a bargain.

14. to establish or enact; put into existence: to make laws.

15. to become by development; prove to be: You'll make a good lawyer.

16. to form in the mind, as a judgment or estimate: to make a decision.

17. to judge or interpret, as to the truth, nature, meaning, etc. (often fol. by of): What do you make of it?

18. to estimate; reckon: to make the distance at ten miles.

19. to bring together separate parts so as to produce a whole; compose; form: to make a matched set.

20. to amount to; bring up the total to: Two plus two makes four. That makes an even dozen.

21. to serve as: to make good reading.

22. to be sufficient to constitute: One story does not make a writer.

23. to be adequate or suitable for: This wool will make a warm sweater.

24. to assure the success or fortune of: a deal that could make or break him; Seeing her made my day.

25. to deliver, utter, or put forth: to make a stirring speech.

26. to go or travel at a particular speed: to make 60 miles an hour.

27. to arrive at or reach; attain: The ship made port on Friday. Do you think he'll make 80?

28. to arrive in time for: to make the first show.

29. to arrive in time to be a passenger on (a plane, boat, bus, train, etc.): If you hurry, you can make the next flight.

30. Informal. to gain or acquire a position within: He made the big time.

31. to receive mention or appear in or on: The robbery made the front page.

32. to gain recognition or honor by winning a place or being chosen for inclusion in or on: The novel made the bestseller list. He made the all-American team three years in a row.

33. Slang. to have sexual intercourse with.

34. Cards.

a. to name (the trump).

b. to take a trick with (a card).

c. Bridge. to fulfill or achieve (a contract or bid).

d. to shuffle (the cards).

35. to earn, as a score: The team made 40 points in the first half.

36. Slang. (esp. in police and underworld use)

a. to recognize or identify: Any cop in town will make you as soon as you walk down the street.

b. to charge or cause to be charged with a crime: The police expect to make a couple of suspects soon.

37. to close (an electric circuit).

38. South Midland and Southern U.S. to plant and cultivate or produce (a crop): He makes some of the best corn in the country.

v.i.

39. to cause oneself, or something understood, to be as specified: to make sure.

40. to show oneself to be or seem in action or behavior (usually fol. by an adjective): to make merry.

41. to be made, as specified: This fabric makes up into beautiful drapes.

42. to move or proceed in a particular direction: They made after the thief.

43. to rise, as the tide or water in a ship.

44. South Midland and Southern U.S. (of a crop) to grow, develop, or mature: It looks like the corn's going to make pretty good this year.

45. make a play for, to try to get: He made a play for his brother's girlfriend. They made a play for control of the company's stock.

46. make as if or as though, Informal. to act as if; pretend: We will make as if to leave, then come back and surprise him.

47. make away with,

a. to steal: The clerk made away with the cash and checks.

b. to destroy; kill: He made away with his enemies.

c. to get rid of.

d. to consume, drink, or eat completely: The boys made away with the contents of the refrigerator.

48. make believe, to pretend; imagine: The little girl dressed in a sheet and made believe she was a ghost.

49. make bold or so bold, to have the temerity; be so rash; dare: May I make so bold as to suggest that you stand when they enter?

50. make book, Slang.

a. to take bets and give odds.

b. to make a business of this.

51. make colors, Naut. to hoist an ensign, as on board a warship.

52. make do, to function, manage, or operate, usually on a deprivation level with minimal requirements: During the war we had no butter or coffee, so we had to make do without them.

53. make down, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to rain or snow: It's making down hard.

54. make fast, Chiefly Naut. to fasten or secure.

55. make for,

a. to go toward; approach: to make for home.

b. to lunge at; attack.

c. to help to promote or maintain: This incident will not make for better understanding between the warring factions.

56. make good,

a. to provide restitution or reparation for: The bank teller made good the shortage and was given a light sentence.

b. to succeed: Talent and training are necessary to make good in some fields.

c. to fulfill: He made good on his promise.

d. Navig. to compute (a course) allowing for leeway and compass deviation.

57. make heavy weather,

a. Naut. to roll and pitch in heavy seas.

b. to progress laboriously; struggle, esp. to struggle needlessly: I am making heavy weather with my income tax return.

58. make it,

a. Informal. to achieve a specific goal: to make it to the train; to make it through college.

b. Informal. to succeed in general: He'll never make it in business.

c. Slang. to have sexual intercourse.

59. make it so, Naut. strike the ship's bell accordingly: said by the officer of the watch when the hour is announced.

60. make like, Informal. to try or pretend to be like; imitate: I'm going to go out and make like a gardener.

61. make off,

a. to run away; depart hastily: The only witness to the accident made off before the police arrived.

b. Naut. to stand off from a coast, esp. a lee shore.

62. make off with, to carry away; steal: While the family was away, thieves made off with most of their valuables.

63. make on, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to turn on, light, or ignite (esp. a light or fire): Make the light on.

64. make one's manners, Southern U.S.

a. to perform an appropriate or expected social courtesy.

b. Older Use. to bow or curtsy.

65. make out,

a. to write out or complete, as a bill or check.

b. to establish; prove.

c. to decipher; discern.

d. to imply, suggest, or impute: He made me out to be a liar.

e. to manage; succeed: How are you making out in your new job?

f. Slang. to engage in kissing and caressing; neck.

g. Slang. to have sexual intercourse.

h. Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to turn off or extinguish (esp. a light or fire): Make the light out.

66. make over,

a. to remodel; alter: to make over a dress; to make over a page layout.

b. to transfer the title of (property); convey: After she retired she made over her property to her children and moved to Florida.

67. make sail, Naut.

a. to set sails.

b. to brace the yards of a ship that has been hove to in order to make headway.

68. make shut, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to close: Make the door shut.

69. make time. See time (def. 42).

70. make up,

a. (of parts) to constitute; compose; form.

b. to put together; construct; compile.

c. to concoct; invent.

d. Also, make up for. to compensate for; make good.

e. to complete.

f. to put in order; arrange: The maid will make up the room.

g. to conclude; decide.

h. to settle amicably, as differences.

i. to become reconciled, as after a quarrel.

j. Print. to arrange set type, illustrations, etc., into columns or pages.

k. to dress in appropriate costume and apply cosmetics for a part on the stage.

l. to apply cosmetics.

m. to adjust or balance, as accounts; prepare, as statements.

n. Educ. to repeat (a course or examination that one has failed).

o. Educ. to take an examination that one had been unable to take when first given, usually because of absence.

p. to specify and indicate the layout or arrangement of (columns, pages, etc., of matter to be printed).

q. Atlantic States. (of the weather or clouds) to develop or gather: It's making up for a storm.

r. Atlantic States. (of the sea) to become turbulent: If the sea makes up, row toward land.

71. make up to,

a. Informal. to try to become friendly with; fawn on.

b. to make advances to; flirt with: He makes up to every new woman in the office.

72. make water,

a. to urinate.

b. Naut. (of a hull) to leak.

73. make with, Slang.

a. to operate; use: Let's make with the feet.

b. to bring about; provide or produce: He makes with the big ideas, but can't follow through.

n.

74. the style or manner in which something is made; form; build.

75. production with reference to the maker; brand: our own make.

76. disposition; character; nature.

77. the act or process of making.

78. quantity made; output.

79. Cards. the act of naming the trump, or the suit named as trump.

80. Elect. the closing of an electric circuit.

81. Jewelry. the excellence of a polished diamond with regard to proportion, symmetry, and finish.

82. Slang. identifying information about a person or thing from police records: He radioed headquarters for a make on the car's license plate.

83. on the make, Informal.

a. seeking to improve one's social or financial position, usually at the expense of others or of principle.

b. increasing; advancing.

c. Slang. seeking amorous or sexual relations: The park was swarming with sailors on the make.

84. put the make on, Slang. to make sexual overtures to.

[bef. 900; ME maken, OE macian; c. LG, D maken, G machen]

Syn. 1. form; build; produce; fabricate, create, fashion, mold. MAKE, CONSTRUCT, MANUFACTURE mean to produce, to put into definite form, or to put parts together to make a whole. MAKE is the general term: Bees make wax. CONSTRUCT, more formal, means to put parts together, usually according to a plan or design: to construct a building.

MANUFACTURE usually refers to producing something from material that requires conversion from one state or condition to another, now almost entirely by means of machinery in a relatively complex process: to manufacture automobiles by the assembly of different parts.

The term is also often used contemptuously of unimaginative or hackneyed works of art with the implication that the work was produced mechanically, and is used abstractly with the idea of denying genuineness: to manufacture an excuse. 7. transform, change, turn. 8. force. 10. get, gain, acquire, obtain, secure, procure. 13. perform, execute. 18. judge, gauge. 74. shape, structure, construction, constitution.

Ant. 1. destroy.

make²

/mayk/, n. Brit. Dial.

1. a peer or equal.

2. a spouse, mate, consort, or lover.

3. a friend; companion.

[bef. 1000; ME mak, make, OE gemaca. See MATCH²]

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