Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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\, 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\, 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\, 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.]