make transitive verb [imperfect or past participle made (mād); present participle or verbal noun making.] [OE. maken, makien, AS. macian; akin to OS. makn, OFries. makia, D. maken, G. machen, OHG. mahhn 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 in 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.

☞ 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. ☞ 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; as, a pound of ham makes a hearty meal.

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, noun

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, adjective

To make good

See under Good.

To make head

to make headway.

To make light of

See under Light, adjective

To make little of

(a) To belittle.

(b) To accomplish easily.

To make love to

See under Love, noun

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, noun

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 gain sight of; to recognize; to discern; to descry; as, as they approached the city, he could make out the tower of the Chrysler Building.

(c) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable to make out his case

(d) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make out the money.

(e) to write out; to write down; – used especially of a bank check or bill; as, he made out a check for the cost of the dinner; the workman made out a bill and handed it to him.

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 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 (māk), intransitive verb

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.

☞ 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, transitive verb).

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

(a) to succeed; to manage oneself; to be able at last; to make shift; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties; after the earthquake they made out all right.

(b) to engage in fond caresses; to hug and kiss; to neck; – of courting couples or individuals (for individuals, used with with); as, they made out on a bench in the park; he was making out with the waitress in the kitchen [informal]

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

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

-- Webster's unabridged 1913