verb (used with object)
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 followed 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.
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.
verb (used without object)
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 followed 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 down, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to rain or snow: It's making down hard.
46.
make fast, Chiefly Nautical. to fasten or secure.
47.
make shut, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to close: Make the door shut.
00:10
Make
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
| to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable. |
noun
Verb phrases 48.
the style or manner in which something is made; form; build.
49.
production with reference to the maker; brand: our own make.
50.
disposition; character; nature.
51.
the act or process of making.
52.
quantity made; output.
53.
Cards. the act of naming the trump, or the suit named as trump.
54.
Electricity. the closing of an electric circuit.
55.
Jewelry. the excellence of a polished diamond with regard to proportion, symmetry, and finish.
56.
Slang. identifying information about a person or thing from police records: He radioed headquarters for a make on the car's license plate.
57.
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 (especially a light or fire): Make the light out.
58.
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.
59.
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.
60.
make off,
a.
to run away; depart hastily: The only witness to the accident made off before the police arrived.
b.
Nautical. to stand off from a coast, especially a lee shore.
61.
make off with, to carry away; steal: While the family was away, thieves made off with most of their valuables.
62.
make on, Chiefly Pennsylvania German. to turn on, light, or ignite (especially a light or fire): Make the light on.
63.
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.
Printing. 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.
Education. to repeat (a course or examination that one has failed).
o.
Education. 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.
64.
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.
65.
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.
66.
make as if/as though, Informal. to act as if; pretend: We will make as if to leave, then come back and surprise him.
67.
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.
68.
make believe, to pretend; imagine: The little girl dressed in a sheet and made believe she was a ghost.
69.
make (so) bold, to have the temerity; be so rash; dare: May I make so bold as to suggest that you stand when they enter?
70.
make book, Slang.
a.
to take bets and give odds.
b.
to make a business of this.
71.
make colors, Nautical. to hoist an ensign, as on board a warship.
72.
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.
73.
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.
Navigation. to compute (a course) allowing for leeway and compass deviation.
74.
make heavy weather,
a.
Nautical. to roll and pitch in heavy seas.
b.
to progress laboriously; struggle, especially to struggle needlessly: I am making heavy weather with my income tax return.
75.
make it,
a.
b.
Informal. to succeed in general: He'll never make it in business.
c.
Slang. to have sexual intercourse.
76.
make it so, Nautical. strike the ship's bell accordingly: said by the officer of the watch when the hour is announced.
77.
make like, Informal. to try or pretend to be like; imitate: I'm going to go out and make like a gardener.
78.
make one's manners, Southern U.S.
a.
to perform an appropriate or expected social courtesy.
b.
Older Use. to bow or curtsy.
79.
make sail, Nautical.
a.
to set sails.
b.
to brace the yards of a ship that has been hove to in order to make headway.
80.
81.
make water,
a.
to urinate.
b.
Nautical. (of a hull) to leak.
82.
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.
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.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English maken, Old English macian; cognate with Low German, Dutch maken, German machen
before 900; Middle English maken, Old English macian; cognate with Low German, Dutch maken, German machen
Related forms
mak·a·ble, adjective
Synonyms
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. 48. shape, structure, construction, constitution.
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. 48. shape, structure, construction, constitution.
Antonyms
1. destroy.
1. destroy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
noun British Dialect.
1.
a peer or equal.
2.
a spouse, mate, consort, or lover.
3.
a friend; companion.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
|
Link To make
Collins
World English Dictionary
make1 (meɪk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb , makes, making, made | |
| 1. | to bring into being by shaping, changing, or combining materials, ideas, etc; form or fashion; create: to make a chair from bits of wood; make a poem |
| 2. | to draw up, establish, or form: to make a decision; make one's will |
| 3. | to cause to exist, bring about, or produce: don't make a noise |
| 4. | to cause, compel, or induce: please make him go away |
| 5. | to appoint or assign, as to a rank or position: they made him chairman |
| 6. | to constitute: one swallow doesn't make a summer |
| 7. | (also intr) to come or cause to come into a specified state or condition: to make merry; make someone happy |
| 8. | (copula) to be or become through development: he will make a good teacher |
| 9. | to cause or ensure the success of: your news has made my day |
| 10. | to amount to: twelve inches make a foot |
| 11. | to be part of or a member of: did she make one of the party? |
| 12. | to serve as or be suitable for: that piece of cloth will make a coat |
| 13. | to prepare or put into a fit condition for use: to make a bed |
| 14. | to be the essential element in or part of: charm makes a good salesman |
| 15. | to carry out, effect, or do: to make a gesture |
| 16. | (intr; |
| 17. | to use for a specified purpose: I will make this town my base |
| 18. | to deliver or pronounce: to make a speech |
| 19. | to judge, reckon, or give one's own opinion or information as to: what time do you make it? |
| 20. | to cause to seem or represent as being: that furniture makes the room look dark |
| 21. | to earn, acquire, or win for oneself: to make friends; make a fortune |
| 22. | to engage in: make love not war |
| 23. | to traverse or cover (distance) by travelling: we can make a hundred miles by nightfall |
| 24. | to arrive in time for: he didn't make the first act of the play |
| 25. | cards |
| a. to win a trick with (a specified card) | |
| b. to shuffle (the cards) | |
| c. bridge to fulfil (a contract) by winning the necessary number of tricks | |
| 26. | cricket to score (runs) |
| 27. | electronics Compare break to close (a circuit) permitting a flow of current |
| 28. | (intr) to increase in depth: the water in the hold was making a foot a minute |
| 29. | (intr) (of hay) to dry and mature |
| 30. | informal to gain a place or position on or in: to make the headlines; make the first team |
| 31. | informal to achieve the rank of |
| 32. | slang to seduce |
| 33. | make a book to take bets on a race or other contest |
| 34. | make a day of it to cause an activity to last a day |
| 35. | make a night of it to cause an activity to last a night |
| 36. | make do See do |
| 37. | make eyes at to flirt with or ogle |
| 38. | make good See good |
| 39. | nautical make heavy weather to roll and pitch in heavy seas |
| 40. | informal make heavy weather of something to carry something out with great difficulty or unnecessarily great effort |
| 41. | make it |
| a. informal to be successful in doing something | |
| b. slang ( | |
| c. slang to inject a narcotic drug | |
| 42. | slang chiefly (US), (Canadian) make like to imitate |
| 43. | make love |
| a. to have sexual intercourse | |
| b. archaic to engage in courtship | |
| 44. | make love to someone |
| a. to have sexual intercourse with someone | |
| b. archaic to engage in courtship with someone | |
| 45. | make or break to bring success or ruin |
| 46. | make time See time |
| 47. | make water |
| a. another term for urinate | |
| b. (of a boat, hull, etc) to let in water | |
| —n | |
| 48. | brand, type, or style: what make of car is that? |
| 49. | the manner or way in which something is made |
| 50. | disposition or character; make-up |
| 51. | the act or process of making |
| 52. | the amount or number made |
| 53. | bridge the contract to be played |
| 54. | cards a player's turn to shuffle |
| 55. | on the make |
| a. informal out for profit or conquest | |
| b. slang in search of a sexual partner | |
| [Old English macian; related to Old Frisian makia to construct, Dutch maken, German machen to make] | |
| 'makable1 | |
| —adj | |
| make2 (meɪk) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a peer or consort |
| 2. | a mate or spouse |
| [Old English gemaca mate; related to | |
| 'makeless2 | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
make
O.E. macian, from W.Gmc. *makojanan (cf. O.S. makon, O.Fris. makia "to build, make," M.Du. maken, O.H.G. mahhon, Ger. machen), from PIE *mag- "to knead, mix, make" (see may). Sense evolution probably is via prehistoric houses built of mud. Gradually replaced the main O.E. word,
gewyrcan (see work). Meaning "to arrive at" (a place), first attested 1620s, originally was nautical. Formerly used in many places where specific verbs now are used, e.g. to make Latin (c.1500) "to write Latin compositions." This broader usage survives in some phrases, e.g. to make water "to urinate," to make a book "arrange a series of bets" (1828), make hay "to turn over mown grass to expose it to sun." Make do "manage with what is available" is attested from 1899. Make time "go fast" is 1887; make tracks in this sense is from 1834. Make the grade is 1912, perhaps from the notion of railway engines going up an incline. Phrase on the make "intent on profit or advancement" is from 1869. To make a federal case out of (something) popularized in 1959 movie "Anatomy of a Murder;" to make an offer (one) can't refuse is from Mario Puzo's 1969 novel "The Godfather." To make (one's) day is from 1909; menacing make my day is from 1971, popularized by Clint Eastwood in film "Sudden Impact" (1983). Related: Making.
make
"match, mate, companion" (now archaic or dial.), from O.E. gemaca, from P.Gmc. *gamakon-, related to gemæca "one of a pair, mate, consort," gemæcc "well-matched, suitable," macian "to make" (see make (v.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
make definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
make (so) definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary
Make definition
programming, toolThe Unix tool to automate the recompilation, linking etc. of programs, taking account of the interdependencies of modules and their modification times. Make reads instructions from a "makefile" which specifies a set of targets to be built, the files they depend on and the commands to execute in order to produce them.
Most C systems come with a make. There is also one produce by GNU.
["Make - A Program for Maintaining Computer Programs", A.I. Feldman, TR No 57, Bell Labs Apr 1977].
(1995-01-05)
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
make
In addition to the idioms beginning with make, also see absence makes the heart grow fonder; all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy; can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear; can't make head or tail of; kiss and make up; many hands make light work; might makes right; on the make; practice makes perfect; put in (make) an appearance; put the make on; run for it, make a; that makes two of us; two wrongs do not make a right; what makes one tick. Also see under made.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Humans deliberately make and remake their social networks all the time.
Handmade candles make thoughtful gifts for the holiday season.
Researchers have been trying to make artificial spider silk for decades.
Chemical engineers are looking to leaves as they try to make better, more efficient solar cells.
Slang
Idioms & Phrases
Matching Quote
Nearby Words
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
