make

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See also: makë, måke, mǎkè, and mąkę

English

 make on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /meɪk/, [meɪkʲ]
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪk

Etymology 1

From Middle English maken, from Old English macian (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-West Germanic *makōn (“to make, build, work”), from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, mix, make”). Cognate with Latin mācerō, macer, Ancient Greek μάσσω (mássō), Scots mak (“to make”), Saterland Frisian moakje (“to make”), West Frisian meitsje (“to make”), Dutch maken (“to make”), Dutch Low Saxon maken (“to make”) and German Low German maken (“to make”), and German machen (“to make, do”). Related to match.

Verb

make (third-person singular simple present makes, present participle making, simple past and past participle made)

  1. (transitive) To create.
    1. To build, construct, or produce.
      We made a bird feeder for our yard.
      I'll make a man out of him yet.
      He makes deodorants.
      • Template:RQ:WBsnt IvryGt
      • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
        I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.
      • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
        Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
    2. To write or compose.
      I made a poem for her wedding.
      He made a will.
    3. To bring about; to effect or produce by means of some action.
      make war
      They were just a bunch of ne'er-do-wells who went around making trouble for honest men.
    4. (religious) To create (the universe), especially (in Christianity) from nothing.
      God made earth and heaven.
  2. (intransitive, now mostly colloquial) To behave, to act.
    To make like a deer caught in the headlights.
    They made nice together, as if their fight never happened.
    He made as if to punch him, but they both laughed and shook hands.
  3. (intransitive) To tend; to contribute; to have effect; with for or against.
  4. To constitute.
    They make a cute couple.
    This makes the third infraction.
    One swallow does not a summer make.
    • 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September:
      So if your prospective school is proudly displaying that "We Are Outstanding" banner on its perimeter fence, well, that is wonderful … but do bear in mind that in all likelihood it has been awarded for results in those two subjects, rather than for its delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum which brings out the best in every child. Which is, of course, what makes a great primary school.
    • 1995, Harriette Simpson Arnow: Critical Essays on Her Work, p.46:
      Style alone does not make a writer.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.
  5. (transitive) To add up to, have a sum of.
    Two and four make six.
  6. (intransitive, construed with of, typically interrogative) To interpret.
    I don’t know what to make of it.
  7. (transitive, usually stressed) To bring into success.
    This company is what made you.
    She married into wealth and so has it made.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      who makes or ruins with a smile or frown
    • 2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, →ISBN, page 124:
      A great expression and amazing eye contact, in particular, can make a photograph, and without them, you can end up with very little.
  8. (ditransitive, second object is an adjective or participle) To cause to be.
    Synonym: render
    The citizens made their objections clear.
    This might make you a bit woozy.
    Did I make myself heard?
    Scotch will make you a man.
    • 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
  9. To cause to appear to be; to represent as.
    • (Can we date this quote by Richard Baker and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      He is not that goose and ### that Valla would make him.
    • Template:RQ:Frgsn Zlnstn
      So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
  10. (ditransitive, second object is a verb) To cause (to do something); to compel (to do something).
    You're making her cry.
    I was made to feel like a criminal.
  11. (ditransitive, second object is a verb, can be stressed for emphasis or clarity) To force to do.
    The teacher made the student study.
    Don’t let them make you suffer.
  12. (ditransitive, of a fact) To indicate or suggest to be.
    His past mistakes don’t make him a bad person.
  13. (transitive, of a bed) To cover neatly with bedclothes.
  14. (transitive, US slang) To recognise, identify.
    • 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, p.33:
      I caught sight of him two or three times and then made him turning north into Laurel Canyon Drive.
    • 2004, George Nolfi et al., Ocean's Twelve, Warner Bros. Pictures, 0:50:30:
      Linus Caldwell: Well, she just made Danny and Yen, which means in the next 48 hours the three o' your pictures are gonna be in every police station in Europe.
    • 2007 May 4, Andrew Dettmann et al., "Under Pressure", episode 3-22 of Numb3rs, 00:01:16:
      David Sinclair: (walking) Almost at Seventh; I should have a visual any second now. (rounds a corner, almost collides into Kaleed Asan) Damn, that was close.
      Don Eppes: David, he make you?
      David Sinclair: No, I don't think so.
  15. (transitive, colloquial) To arrive at a destination, usually at or by a certain time.
    We should make Cincinnati by 7 tonight.
    • (Can we date this quote by Thomas Browne and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      They that sail in the middle can make no land of either side.
  16. (intransitive, colloquial) To proceed (in a direction).
    They made westward over the snowy mountains.
    Make for the hills! It's a wildfire!
    They made away from the fire toward the river.
  17. (transitive) To cover (a given distance) by travelling. [from 16thc.]
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
      I had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town. I was completely mystified at such an unusual proceeding.
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, Chapter VIII:
      I made over twenty miles that day, for I was now hardened to fatigue and accustomed to long hikes, having spent considerable time hunting and exploring in the immediate vicinity of camp.
  18. (transitive) To move at (a speed). [from 17thc.]
    The ship could make 20 knots an hour in calm seas.
    This baby can make 220 miles an hour.
  19. To appoint; to name.
    • 1991, Bernard Guenée, Between Church and State: The Lives of Four French Prelates →ISBN:
      On November 15, 1396, […] Benedict XIII made him bishop of Noyon;
  20. (transitive, slang) To induct into the Mafia or a similar organization (as a made man).
    • 1990, Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas:
      Jimmy Conway: They're gonna make him.
      Henry Hill: Paulie's gonna make you?
  21. (intransitive, colloquial, euphemistic) To defecate or urinate.
    • 1992, Merrill Joan Gerber, The kingdom of Brooklyn, page 30:
      When my father comes back with a dark wet spot on his pants, right in front, as if he has made in his pants, he starts eating his food in great shovelfuls.
    • 2003, Mary Anne Kelly, The Cordelia Squad, page 121:
      "He made in his pants, okay? I hope everybody's satisfied!" She flung her hat on the floor and kicked it. "He'll never come back to school now! Never! And it's all your fault!
  22. (transitive) To earn, to gain (money, points, membership or status).
    They hope to make a bigger profit.
    He didn't make the choir after his voice changed.
    She made ten points in that game.
    • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC:
      Wales' defence had an unfamiliar look with Cardiff youngster Darcy Blake preferred to 44-cap Danny Gabbidon of Queen's Park Rangers, who did not even make the bench.
    • 2012 May 20, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: The Simpsons (classic): “Marge Gets A Job” (season 4, episode 7; originally aired 11/05/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
      Bart spies an opportunity to make a quick buck so he channels his inner carny and posits his sinking house as a natural wonder of the world and its inhabitants as freaks, barking to dazzled spectators, “Behold the horrors of the Slanty Shanty! See the twisted creatures that dwell within! Meet Cue-Ball, the man with no hair!”
  23. (transitive) To pay, to cover (an expense); chiefly used after expressions of inability.
    • 1889 May 1, Chief Justice George P. Raney, Pensacola & A. R. Co. v. State of Florida (judicial opinion), reproduced in The Southern Reporter, Volume 5, West Publishing Company, p.843:
      Whether, […], the construction of additional roads […] would present a case in which the exaction of prohibitory or otherwise onerous rates may be prevented, though it result in an impossibility for some or all of the roads to make expenses, we need not say; no such case is before us.
    • 2005, Yuvi Shmul and Ron Peltier, Make It Big with Yuvi: How to Buy Or Start a Small Business, the Best Investment, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, p.67:
      At first glance, you may be able to make rent and other overhead expenses because the business is doing well, but if sales drop can you still make rent?
    • 2011, Donald Todrin, Successfully Navigating the Downturn, Entrepreneur Press, →ISBN, p.194:
      So you can’t make payroll. This happens. […] many business owners who have never confronted it before will be forced to deal with this most difficult matter of not making payroll.
  24. (obsolete, intransitive) To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Tennyson to this entry?)
  25. To enact; to establish.
    • 1791, The First Amendment to the United States Constitution:
      Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
  26. To develop into; to prove to be.
    She'll make a fine president.
  27. To form or formulate in the mind.
    make plans
    made a questionable decision
  28. To perform a feat.
    make a leap
    make a pass
    make a u-turn
  29. (intransitive) To gain sufficient audience to warrant its existence.
    In the end, my class didn't make, which left me with a bit of free time.
  30. (obsolete) 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.
    • (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      a scurvy, jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make
  31. (obsolete) To increase; to augment; to accrue.
  32. (obsolete) To be engaged or concerned in.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs?
  33. (now archaic) To cause to be (in a specified place), used after a subjective what.
    • 1676, George Etherege, A Man of Mode:
      Footman. Madam! Mr. Dorimant!
      Lov. What makes him here?
    • 1816, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel:
      What makes her in the wood so late, / A furlong from the castle gate?
  34. (transitive, euphemistic) To take the virginity of.
    • (Can we date this quote by Rudyard Kipling and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      I was a young un at 'Oogli,
      Shy as a girl to begin;
      Aggie de Castrer she made me,
      — An' Aggie was clever as sin;
      Older than me, but my first un —
      More like a mother she were
      Showed me the way to promotion an' pay,
      An' I learned about women from 'er!
  35. (transitive) To have sexual intercourse with.
Conjugation
Conjugation of make
infinitive (to) make
present tense past tense
1st-person singular make makeed
2nd-person singular
3rd-person singular makes
plural make
subjunctive make makeed
imperative make —
participles makeing makeed
Derived terms
Terms derived from make (verb)
See also
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

make (plural makes)

  1. Brand or kind; model. Template:jump
    What make of car do you drive?
  2. Manner or style of construction (style of how a thing is made); form. Template:jump
    • 1907, Mark Twain, A Horse's Tale‎[1]:
      I can name the tribe every moccasin belongs to by the make of it.
  3. Origin (of a manufactured article); manufacture; production. Template:jump
    • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Ayrsham Mystery‎[2]:
      The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall–marked.
    • 1914, Judicious Advertising, page 158:
      The Royal Typewriter Company is distributing a very attractive eight page folder, announcing the Royal Number 10, the first machine of Royal make which uses levers instead of wires to operate the type-bars.
    The camera was of German make.
  4. A person's character or disposition. Template:jump
    • 1914, Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, Perch of the Devil‎[3], page 274:
      I never feel very much excited about any old thing; it's not my make; but I've got a sort of shiver inside of me, and a watery feeling in the heart region.
  5. (dated) The act or process of making something, especially in industrial manufacturing. Template:jump
    • 1908, Charles Thomas Jacobi, Printing: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Typography as Applied More Particularly to the Printing of Books‎[4], page 331:
      […] papers are respectively of second or inferior quality, the last being perhaps torn or broken in the "make" — as the manufacture is technically termed.
  6. (uncountable) Quantity produced, especially of materials. Template:jump
    • Lua error in Module:quote at line 2380: |6= is an alias of |url=; cannot specify a value for both
  7. (computing) A software utility for automatically building large applications, or an implementation of this utility.
    • 2003, D. Curtis Jamison, Perl Programming for Biologists‎[5], →ISBN, page 115:
      However, the unzip and make programs weren't found, so the default was left blank.
  8. (slang) Identification or recognition (of identity), especially from police records or evidence. Template:jump
    • 2003, John Lutz, The Night Spider‎[6], →ISBN, page 53:
      "They ever get a make on the blood type?" Horn asked, staring at the stained mattress.
    • 2003, Harlan Wygant, The Samurai Conspiracy: A Story of Revenge by the Author of "The Junkyard Dog." (→ISBN), page 36:
      "I'm sure we'll get a make on the suspect's prints by day break, so if you come down town, I'll see you get everything available. Go ahead and process the car, we won't have any need of it."
    • 2007, P. T. Deutermann, Hunting Season: A Novel, St. Martin's Press (→ISBN):
      He got out his binoculars, trying for a make on the plate, but the plate light was conveniently not working. The windows must have been tinted, because he could not see inside the van, either.
    • 2008, H.A. Covington, The Brigade (→ISBN), page 660:
      “Okay, if I could understand correctly what Oscar was saying through all the doubletalk, we've got a make on the bigwig occupant of the convoy ahead. Chaim Lieberman, Israeli Ambassador to the United States.” “Shit,” said Gardner.
  9. (slang, usually in phrase "easy make") Past, present, or future target of seduction (usually female). Template:jump
    • 2007, Prudence Mors Rains, Becoming an Unwed Mother‎[7], →ISBN, page 26:
      To me, if I weren't going with someone and was taking pills, it would be like advertising that I'm an easy make.
    • 1962, Ralph Moreno, A Man's Estate‎[8], page 12:
      She's your make, not mine. […] It isn't anything short of difficult to entertain someone else's pregnant fiancee.
  10. (slang, military) A promotion.
    • 2004, Joseph Stilwell, Seven Stars: The Okinawa Battle Diaries of Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. and Joseph Stilwell‎[9], →ISBN, page 94:
      Sent back the list of makes with only Post and Hamilton on it. (Buckner had recommended 10 staff officers and 1 combat soldier!)
  11. A home-made project
    • 1978, Biddy Baxter, Hazel Gill, Margaret Parnell, Rachel Barnes, Kate Pountney, The 'Blue Peter' Make, Cook & Look Book‎[10], page i:
      Blue Peter "make"
  12. (card games) Turn to declare the trump for a hand (in bridge), or to shuffle the cards.
    • 1925, Robert William Chambers, The Talkers‎[11], page 195:
      It's your make as the cards lie. Take your time.
    • 1962 (edition), Leo Tolstoy, Hadji Murat: A Tale of the Caucasus:
      'Not your make,' said the adjutant sternly and started dealing the cards with his white be-ringed hands as though he was in haste to get rid of them.
  13. (basketball) A made basket.
  14. (physics) The closing of an electrical circuit. Template:jump
    • 1947, Charles Seymour Siskind, Electricity‎[12], page 94:
      If the interrupter operated every 2 sec., the current would rise to 10 amp. and drop to zero with successive "makes" and "breaks."
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English make, imake, from Old English ġemaca (“a mate, an equal, companion, peer”), from Proto-Germanic *gamakô (“companion, comrade”), from Proto-Indo-European *maǵ- (“to knead, oil”). Reinforced by Old Norse maki (“an equal”). Cognate with Icelandic maki (“spouse”), Swedish make (“spouse, husband”), Danish mage (“companion, fellow, mate”). See also match.

Noun

make (plural makes)

  1. (UK, dialectal) Mate; a spouse or companion; a match.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vii:
      Th'Elfe therewith astownd, / Vpstarted lightly from his looser make, / And his vnready weapons gan in hand to take.
    • 1624, Ben Jonson, The Masque of Owls at Kenilworth:
      Where their maids and their makes / At dancing and wakes, / Had their napkins and posies / And the wipers for their noses
    • 1684, Meriton, Praise Ale:
      But then sometimes I thought, it's a black Crake / That never to her-sell can get a Make.
    • 1678 (later reprinted: 1855), John Ray, A Hand-book of Proverbs:
      Every cake hath its make; but a scrape cake hath two.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain.

Noun

make (plural makes)

  1. (Scotland, Ireland, Northern England, now rare) A halfpenny. [from 16th c.]
    • 1826, Sir Walter Scott, Woodstock; Or, the Cavalier:
      the last we shall have, I take it; for a make to a million, but we trine to the nubbing cheat to-morrow.
    • 1934, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Grey Granite, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), page 606:
      Only as he climbed the steps did he mind that he hadn't even a meck upon him, and turned to jump off as the tram with a showd swung grinding down to the Harbour […]

Etymology 4

Origin unclear.

Noun

make (plural makes)

  1. (East Anglia, Essex, obsolete) An agricultural tool resembling a scythe, used to cut (harvest) certain plants such as peas, reeds, or tares.
    • 1797, Arthur Young, General View of the Agriculture of the County of Suffolk: Drawn Up for the Consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, page 73:
      Harvest.—When left for seed, they are cut and wadded as pease, with a make.
      Produce.—From three to six sacks an acre.
    • 1811, William Gooch, General view of the agriculture of the county of Cambridge; drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, page 142, section VI "Pease":
      Harvest. Taken up by a pease-make, and left in small heaps, and turned as often as the weather may make it necessary.

References

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

make

  1. (deprecated template usage) (archaic) singular present subjunctive of maken

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *mate, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *m-atay, *atay, from Proto-Austronesian *m-aCay, *aCay (compare Cebuano matay, Chamorro matai, Fijian mate,, Ilocano matay, Indonesian mati, Javanese mati, Kapampangan mate, mete, Malagasy maty, Maori mate, Rapa Nui mate, Tagalog matay, Tahitian mate)

Noun

make

  1. death
  2. peril

Verb

make

  1. (stative) to die; dead
  2. (stative) to faint

Japanese

Romanization

make

  1. Rōmaji transcription of まけ

Middle English

Verb

make

  1. Alternative form of maken

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse maki

Noun

make m (definite singular maken, indefinite plural maker, definite plural makene)

  1. a mate (especially animals and birds), a spouse
  2. an equal, match, peer
  3. one of a pair (e.g. shoe, sock)
  4. something that is similar or alike

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse maki

Noun

make m (definite singular maken, indefinite plural makar, definite plural makane)

  1. a mate (especially animals and birds), a spouse
  2. an equal, match, peer
  3. one of a pair (e.g. shoe, sock)
  4. something that is similar or alike

Derived terms

References

Swazi

Noun

máke class 1a (plural bómáke class 2a)

  1. my mother

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish maki, from Old Norse maki, from Proto-Germanic *makô. Doublet of maka.

Pronunciation

Noun

make c

  1. (slightly archaistic or formal) a spouse, a husband, a married man (mostly referring to a specific relation)
    Hon hade inte sett sin make på hela dagen.
    She had not seen her husband all day.
    Makarna hade råkat ta in på samma hotell.
    The man and his wife happened to board at the same hotel.
  2. something alike (in quality)
    Ingen hade sett svärdets make.
    Nobody had seen a sword like this.

Declension

Declension of make 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative make maken makar makarna
Genitive makes makens makars makarnas

Synonyms

Antonyms

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