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 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.