Make

[imp. & p. p. MADE; p. pr. & vb. n. MAKING.] [A.-S. macian, O. Sax. macōn, O. Fries. makia, D. & L. Ger. maken, N. H. Ger. machen, O. H. Ger. machōn, to join, fit, prepare, make, Dan. mage, to frame, fashion, make, Sw. maka, to move, remove.]

1Sense 1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to produce; to frame; to fashion; to create; hence, in various specific uses or applications, (a.) To form of materials; to cause to exist in a certain form; to construct; to fabricate.

He . . . fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. Ex. xxxii. 4.

(b.) To produce, as something artificial, unnatural, or false.

And Art, with her contending, doth aspire To excel the natural with made delights. Spenser.

(c.) To bring about; to be the cause or agent of; to effect, do, perform, or execute;—often used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to record; to make abode, for to abide, &c.

Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. Judg. xvi. 25.

Wealth maketh many friends. Prov. xix. 4.

I will neither plead my age nor sickness in excuse of the faults which I made. Dryden.

(d.) To gain, as the result of one’s efforts; to get, as profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue to one; as, to make money; to make a large profit; rarely, to have result to one as a loss or misfortune; to suffer.

He accuses Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck a second time. Bacon.

(e.) To find, as the result of calculation or computation; to ascertain by enumeration; to find the number or amount of, by reckoning, weighing, measurement, and the like; as, he made the weight about fifty pounds. (f.) To pass over the distance of; to travel over; as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the distance in one day. (g.) To put in a desired or desirable condition; to cause to thrive.

Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown. Dryden.

2Sense 2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state or condition which is expressed by a qualifying noun, verb, or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make public.

Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Ex. ii. 14.

See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. Ex. vii. 1.

Whate’er they catch, Their fury makes an instrument of war. Dryden.

3Sense 3. Hence, to cause to appear to be; to constitute subjectively; to esteem, suppose, or represent.

He is not that goose and ass that Valla would make him. Baker.

4Sense 4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause; to occasion.

They should be made to rise at an early hour. Locke.

5Sense 5. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to constitute; to make up; to form.

The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea, Make but one temple for the Deity. Waller.

6Sense 6. Hence, to serve or answer as; to do the part or office of; to become; as, a good daughter makes a good wife.

7Sense 7. To be about; to be concerned in; to be occupied with. [Obs.]

Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs? Dryden.

8Sense 8. To reach, attain, or arrive at; also, to come near, so as to have within sight. “And make the Libyan shores.” Dryden.

They that fail in the middle can make no land of either side. Browne.

To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to put it in order.—To make account of, to esteem; to regard.—To make amends, to make good; to give adequate compensation; to replace the value or amount of loss.—To make away. (a.) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. “If a child were crooked or deformed in body or mind, they made him away.” Burton. (b.) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. Waller.—To make believe, to pretend; to act as if.—To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose.—To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.]

If there be a private corner, as you go, sir, Make danger. Beau. & Fl.

—To make default (Law), to fail to appear or answer.—To make the door, to shut the door. [Obs.]

Make the doors on a woman’s wit, and it Will out at the casement. Shak.

—To make free with, to treat with freedom; to treat without ceremony.—To make good. (a.) To maintain; to defend. “I’ll either die, or I’ll make good the place.” Dryden. (b.) To fulfill; to accomplish; as, to make good one’s word, promise, or engagement. (c.) To make compensation for; to supply by an equivalent; as, to make good a loss or damage.—To make light of, to consider as of no consequence; to treat with indifference or contempt. “They made light of it, and went their ways.” Matt. xxii. 5.—To make love to, to court; to attempt to gain the affection of.—To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial.—To make much of, to treat with fondness or esteem; to consider as of great value, or as giving great pleasure; to be very fond of.—To make no difference, to have no weight or influence; to be a matter of indifference.—To make no doubt, to have no doubt; to be confident.—To make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make no difference.—To make nothing for, to have no effect to assist, support, or confirm; to be of no value to; as, mere assertions make nothing for an argument.—To make oath (Law), to swear in a prescribed form of law.—To make of. (a.) To understand; as, he knows not what to make of the news; that is, he does not well understand it; he knows not how to consider or view it. (b.) To produce from; to effect. “I am astonished that those who have appeared against this paper have made so very little of it.” Addison. (c.) To consider; to account; to esteem. “Makes she no more of me than of a slave?” Dryden.—To make out. (a.) To learn; to discover; to obtain a clear understanding of; as, he can not make out the meaning or sense of this difficult passage. “Antiquaries make out the most ancient medals from a letter with great difficulty to be discerned.” Felton. (b.) To prove; to evince; to establish by evidence or argument; as, the plaintiff, not being able to make out his case, withdrew the suit. “In the passages from divines, most of the reasonings which make out both my propositions are already suggested.” Atterbury. (c.) To furnish; to find or supply; as, he promised to pay, but was not able to make out the money, or the whole sum.—To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to alienate; as, he made over his estate in trust or in fee.—To make sail (Naut.), to increase the quantity of sail already extended.—To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost.—To make strange, to make objection to; to scruple.

Sir, Tigranes Is coming, though he made it strange at first. Beau. & Fl.

—To make suit to, to endeavor to gain the favor of; to court.—To make sure of. (a.) To consider as certain. Dryden. (b.) To secure to one’s possession; as, to make sure of the game.—To make up. (a.) To collect into a sum or mass; as, to make up the amount of rent; to make up a bundle or package. (b.) To reconcile; to compose; as, to make up a difference or quarrel. (c.) To supply what is wanting in; as, a dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum. (d.) To compose, as ingredients or parts. “O, he was all made up of love and charms!” Addison. “The parties among us are made up of moderate Whigs and Presbyterians.” Swift. (e.) To shape, prepare, or fabricate; as, to make up a mass into pills. (f.) To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss. (g.) To settle; to adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make up accounts. (h.) To determine; to bring to a definite conclusion; as, to make up one’s mind.—To make water. (a.) (Naut.) To leak. (b.) To void the urine; to urinate.—To make way. (a.) To make progress; to advance. (b.) To open a passage; to clear the way.—To make words, to multiply words.

v. i. 1. To tend; to proceed; to move; as, he made toward home; the tiger made at the sportsmen.

☞ Formerly, authors used to make away, to make on, to make forth, to make about; but these phrases are obsolete. We now say, to make at, to make toward.

2Sense 2. To tend; to contribute; to have effect; as, this argument makes nothing in his favor; he believes wrong to be right, and right to be wrong, when it makes for his advantage.

3Sense 3. To increase; to augment; to accrue.

4Sense 4. To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. [Obs.]

To solacen hym som time, As I do whan I make. — Piers Plowman.

To make against, to tend to injure; as, this argument makes against his cause. — To make as if, to pretend that; to make show that. “Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled.” Josh. viii. 15. — To make away with, to kill; to destroy. — To make bold, to venture; to take liberty; to dare. — To make for. (a.) To move toward; to direct a course toward; as, we apprehended a tempest approaching, and made for a harbor. (b.) To tend to advantage; to favor; as, a war between commercial nations makes for the interest of neutrals. — To make out, to succeed; to be able at last; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties. — To make up. (a.) To approach; as, he made up to us with boldness. (b.) To become reconciled or friendly. — To make up for, to compensate; to supply by an equivalent. “Have you a supply of friends to make up for those who are gone?” Swift. — To make up with, to settle differences with; to become friendly to. — To make with, to concur or agree with.

n. Structure, texture, constitution of parts; construction; shape; form.

Is our perfection of so frail a make As every plot can undermine and shake? Dryden.

n. [A-S. maca, gemaca, gemǣcca, mate, husband, companion; Icel. maki, an equal, husband; Dan. mage, equal, match, mate, spouse. Cf. MATCH.] A companion; a mate. [Obs.] Spenser. B. Jonson.