

make
- 11 dictionary resultsmake
1 [meyk]
verb, made, mak⋅ing, noun | 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.
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| 35. | to earn, as a score: The team made 40 points in the first half. |
| 36. | Slang. (esp. in police and underworld use)
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| 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. |
| 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 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. |
| 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,
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| 58. | make over,
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| 59. | make for,
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| 60. | make off,
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| 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 (esp. a light or fire): Make the light on. |
| 63. | make up,
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| 64. | make up to,
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| 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 or 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,
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| 68. | make believe, to pretend; imagine: The little girl dressed in a sheet and made believe she was a ghost. |
| 69. | 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? |
| 70. | make book, Slang.
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| 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,
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| 74. | make heavy weather,
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| 75. | make it,
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| 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.
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| 79. | make sail, Nautical.
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| 80. | make time. time (def. 52). |
| 81. | make water,
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| 82. | make with, Slang.
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| 83. | on the make, Informal.
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| 84. | put the make on, Slang. to make sexual overtures to. |
bef. 900; ME maken, OE macian; c. LG, D maken, G machen

Related forms:
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. destroy.
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Make
Make\, n. [AS. maca, gemaca. See Match.] A companion; a mate; often, a husband or a wife. [Obs.] For in this world no woman is Worthy to be my make. --Chaucer.Make
Make\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Made; p. pr. & vb. n. Making.] [OE. maken, makien, AS. macian; akin to OS. mak?n, OFries. makia, D. maken, G. machen, OHG. mahh?n to join, fit, prepare, make, Dan. mage. Cf. Match an equal.]1. To cause to exist; to bring into being; to form; 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; -- often with up; as, to make up a story. And Art, with her contending, doth aspire To excel the natural with made delights. --Spenser. (c) To bring about; to bring forward; 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, etc. 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 have made. --Dryden. (d) To execute with the requisite formalities; as, to make a bill, note, will, deed, etc. (e) To gain, as the result of one's efforts; to get, as profit; to make acquisition of; to have accrue or happen to one; as, to make a large profit; to make an error; to make a loss; to make money. He accuseth Neptune unjustly who makes shipwreck a second time. --Bacon. (f) 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 distance of; to travel over; as, the ship makes ten knots an hour; he made the distance in one day. (h) To put a desired or desirable condition; to cause to thrive. Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown. --Dryden. 2. To cause to be or become; to put into a given state verb, or adjective; to constitute; as, to make known; to make public; to make fast. 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. Note: When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make bold; to make free, etc. 3. 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. 4. To require; to constrain; to compel; to force; to cause; to occasion; -- followed by a noun or pronoun and infinitive. Note: In the active voice the to of the infinitive is usually omitted. I will make them hear my words. --Deut. iv. 10. They should be made to rise at their early hour. --Locke. 5. To become; to be, or to be capable of being, changed or fashioned into; to do the part or office of; to furnish the material for; as, he will make a good musician; sweet cider makes sour vinegar; wool makes warm clothing. And old cloak makes a new jerkin. --Shak. 6. To compose, as parts, ingredients, or materials; to constitute; to form; to amount to. The heaven, the air, the earth, and boundless sea, Make but one temple for the Deity. --Waller. 7. To be engaged or concerned in. [Obs.] Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs? --Dryden. 8. To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. "And make the Libyan shores." --Dryden. They that sail in the middle can make no land of either side. --Sir T. Browne. To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to put it in order. To make a card (Card Playing), to take a trick with it. To make account. See under Account, n. To make account of, to esteem; to regard. To make away. (a) To put out of the way; to kill; to destroy. [Obs.] If a child were crooked or deformed in body or mind, they made him away. --Burton. (b) To alienate; to transfer; to make over. [Obs.] --Waller. To make believe, to pretend; to feign; to simulate. To make bold, to take the liberty; to venture. To make the cards (Card Playing), to shuffle the pack. To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose. To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl. To make default (Law), to fail to appear or answer. To make the doors, to shut the door. [Obs.] Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement. --Shak. To make free with. See under Free, a. To make good. See under Good. To make head, to make headway. To make light of. See under Light, a. To make little of. (a) To belittle. (b) To accomplish easily. To make love to. See under Love, n. To make meat, to cure meat in the open air. [Colloq. Western U. S.] To make merry, to feast; to be joyful or jovial. To make much of, to treat with much consideration,, attention, or fondness; to value highly. To make no bones. See under Bone, n. 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 make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make no difference. To make oath (Law), to swear, as to the truth of something, in a prescribed form of law. To make of. (a) To understand or think concerning; as, not to know what to make of the news. (b) To pay attention to; to cherish; to esteem; to account. "Makes she no more of me than of a slave." --Dryden. To make one's law (Old Law), to adduce proof to clear one's self of a charge. To make out. (a) To find out; to discover; to decipher; as, to make out the meaning of a letter. (b) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable to make out his case. (c) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make out the money. 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.) (a) To increase the quantity of sail already extended. (b) To set sail. To make shift, to manage by expedients; as, they made shift to do without it. [Colloq.]. To make sternway, to move with the stern foremost; to go or drift backward. To make strange, to act in an unfriendly manner or as if surprised; to treat as strange; as, to make strange of a request or suggestion. To make suit to, to endeavor to gain the favor of; to court. To make sure. See under Sure. 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; to complete; as, a dollar is wanted to make up the stipulated sum. (d) To compose, as from ingredients or parts; to shape, prepare, or fabricate; as, to make up a mass into pills; to make up a story. He was all made up of love and charms! --Addison. (e) To compensate; to make good; as, to make up a loss. (f) To adjust, or to arrange for settlement; as, to make up accounts. (g) To dress and paint for a part, as an actor; as, he was well made up. To make up a face, to distort the face as an expression of pain or derision. To make up one's mind, to reach a mental determination; to resolve. To make water. (a) (Naut.) To leak. (b) To urinate. To make way, or To make one's way. (a) To make progress; to advance. (b) To open a passage; to clear the way. To make words, to multiply words.Make
Make\, v. i. 1. To act in a certain manner; to have to do; to manage; to interfere; to be active; -- often in the phrase to meddle or make. [Obs.] A scurvy, jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make. --Shak. 2. To proceed; to tend; to move; to go; as, he made toward home; the tiger made at the sportsmen. Note: Formerly, authors used to make on, to make forth, to make about; but these phrases are obsolete. We now say, to make at, to make away, to make for, to make off, to make toward, etc. 3. To tend; to contribute; to have effect; -- with for or against; as, it makes for his advantage. --M. Arnold. Follow after the things which make for peace. --Rom. xiv. 19. Considerations infinite Do make against it. --Shak. 4. To increase; to augment; to accrue. 5. To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. [Archaic] --Chaucer. Tennyson. To solace him some time, as I do when I make. --P. Plowman. To make as if, or To make as though, to pretend that; to make show that; to make believe (see under Make, v. t.). Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled. --Josh. viii. 15. My lord of London maketh as though he were greatly displeased with me. --Latimer. To make at, to go toward hastily, or in a hostile manner; to attack. To make away with. (a) To carry off. (b) To transfer or alienate; hence, to spend; to dissipate. (c) To kill; to destroy. To make off, to go away suddenly. To make out, to succeed; to be able at last; to make shift; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties. To make up, to become reconciled or friendly. To make up for, to compensate for; to supply an equivalent for. To make up to. (a) To approach; as, a suspicious boat made up to us. (b) To pay addresses to; to make love to. To make up with, to become reconciled to. [Colloq.] To make with, to concur or agree with. --Hooker.Make
Make\, n. Structure, texture, constitution of parts; construction; shape; form. It our perfection of so frail a make As every plot can undermine and shake? --Dryden. On the make,bent upon making great profits; greedy of gain. [Low, U. S.]Cite This Source
make (v.)
make (n.)
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Make programming, tool
The 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)
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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.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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