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 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.
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.
☞ 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.