What does "make" mean?
Make: 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.
Additional senses
- 2.(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.
- 3.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.
- 5.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.
- 6.See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh. Ex. vii.
- 7.Note: When used reflexively with an adjective, the reflexive pronoun is often omitted; as, to make merry; to make bold; to make free, etc.
- 8.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.
- 9.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.
- 11.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.
- 12.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.
- 13.To be engaged or concerned in. [Obs.] Gomez, what makest thou here, with a whole brotherhood of city bailiffs Dryden.
- 14.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.
- 15.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.
- 16.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.
- 17.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.
- 18.Considerations infinite Do make against it. Shak.
- 19.To increase; to augment; to accrue.
- 20.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.
- 21.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.
- 22.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.]
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00