make up

make something up 1. to repay or redo

something. T Can I make up the test I

missed? T Please make up the payment

you missed. You can make it up. 2. to

create a story or a lie. That’s not true!

You just made it up! Bob made up a

story about a tiny mouse and its friends. 3.

to mix something up; to assemble some-

thing. JOHN: Is my prescription ready?

DRUGGIST: No, I haven’t made it up yet.

T I’ll make up your prescription in a

minute.

make something up out of whole cloth to

create a story or a lie from no facts at all.

I don’t believe you. I think you made

that up out of whole cloth. T Ann made

up her explanation out of whole cloth.

There was not a bit of truth in it.

make something up to someone to repay

someone; to make amends to someone.

I’m so sorry I’ve insulted you. How can

I make it up to you? I’m sorry I broke

our date. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.

make something worth someone’s while to

make something profitable enough for

someone to do. If you deliver this par-

cel for me, I’ll make it worth your while.

The boss said he’d make it worth our while

if we worked late.

make the bed and make someone’s bed to

restore a bed to an unslept-in condition.

I make my bed every morning. The

maid goes to all the rooms to make the

beds.

make the best of something to try to make

a bad situation work out well. (Compare

this with make the most of something.)

It’s not good, but we’ll have to make the

best of it. Ann is clever enough to make

the best of a bad situation.

make the feathers fly Go to make the fur

fly.

make the fur fly and make the feath-

ers fly to cause a fight or an argument;

to create an uproar (about something). (In-

formal.) When your mother gets home

and sees what you’ve done, she’ll really

make the fur f ly. When those two get to-

gether, they’ll make the feathers f ly. They

hate each other.

make the grade to be satisfactory; to be

what is expected. (Informal.) I’m sorry,

but your work doesn’t exactly make the

grade. This meal doesn’t just make the

grade. It is excellent.

make the most of something to make some-

thing appear as good as possible; to ex-

ploit something; to get as much out of

something as is possible. (Compare this

with make the best of something.) Mary

knows how to make the most of her talents.

They designed the advertisements to

make the most of the product’s features.

make the scene to appear somewhere, es-

pecially at a social event. (Slang.)

hope I can make the scene Saturday night

at the party. The big race is tomorrow

Man, I’ve got to make the scene. The whole

world will be there!

make time (for someone or something) to

schedule time to see someone or do

something. I can make time for you to-

morrow morning. I am very busy, but I

can make time. You are going to have

to start making time for balanced meals.

make time (with someone) to flirt with,

date, or hang around with someone. (In-

formal.) I hear that Tom’s been mak-

ing time with Ann. I hear they’ve been

making time for months.

make up for lost time to do much of

something; to do something fast. Be-

cause we took so long eating lunch, we have

to drive faster to make up for lost time.

Otherwise we won’t arrive on time. At

the age of sixty, Bill learned to play golf.

Now he plays it every day. He’s making up

for lost time.

make up for someone or something to take the

place of someone or something. John

can’t play in the game Saturday, but I think

I can make up for him. Do you think

that this cat can make up for the one that

ran away?

make up (with someone) to reconcile with

someone; to end a disagreement (with

someone). Bill and Max decided to

make up. They made up with each other

and are still very good friends.

make use of someone or something to use or

utilize someone or something. If you

make use of all your talents and skills, you

should succeed. The technician makes

good use of a number of special tools.

make waves to make trouble or difficul-

ties. (Also literal. Informal. Compare this

with rock the boat.) I don’t want to

make waves, but this just isn’t right.

Why do you always have to make waves?

Can’t you be constructive?

make way to make progress; to move

ahead. (Originally nautical. See also

make way (for someone or something).)

this project making way?

A sailboat

can’t make way if there is no wind.

make way (for someone or something) to clear

a path for someone or something.

Make way for the stretcher. Please make

way for the nurse. Here comes the doc-

tor—make way!

man-about-town a fashionable man who

leads a sophisticated life. He prefers

wine bars to pubs—quite a man-about-

town. Jack’s too much of a man-about-

town to go to a football game.

the man in the street the ordinary person.

Politicians rarely care what the man in

the street thinks. The man in the street

has little interest in literature.

man to man and woman to woman

speaking frankly and directly, one person

to another. Let’s discuss this man to

man so we know what each other thinks.

The two mothers discussed their child-

raising problems woman to woman.

Many hands make light work. A lot of

help will make a chore seem easier.

(Proverb.) Let’s all work together and

get this finished. Many hands make light

work. Many hands make light work, so

please lend a hand.

many is the time on many occasions.

Many is the time I wanted to complain,

but I just kept quiet. Many is the time

that we don’t have enough to eat.

march to (the beat of ) a different drum-

mer to believe in a different set of prin-

ciples. John is marching to a different

drummer, and he doesn’t come to our par-

ties anymore. Since Sally started march-

ing to the beat of a different drummer, she

has had a lot of great new ideas.

mark my word(s) remember what I’m

telling you. Mark my word, you’ll regret

this. This whole project will fail—mark

my words.

mark someone or something down 1. [with

someone] to make a note about someone;

to note a fact about someone. I’m go-

ing to the party. Please mark me down.

Mark me down, too. 2. [with someone]

[for a teacher] to give someone a low

score. He’ll mark you down for mis-

spelled words. T I marked down Tom for

bad spelling. 3. [with something] to lower

the price of something. Okay, we’ll

mark it down. T Let’s mark down this

price so it’ll sell faster.

mark something up 1. to mess something up

with marks. T Don’t mark up your book!

Who marked this book up? 2. to grade

a paper and make lots of informative

marks and comments on it. T The

teacher really marked up my term paper.

Why did you mark my test up so much?

I hardly made any errors. 3. to raise the

price of something. The grocery store

seems to mark the price of food up every

week. T They don’t mark up the price of

turkey at Thanksgiving.

a marvel to behold someone or something

quite exciting or wonderful to see. Our

new house is a marvel to behold. Mary’s

lovely new baby is a marvel to behold.

a match for someone, something, or some crea-

ture someone, something, or some crea-

ture that is the equal of someone, some-

thing, or some other creature, especially

in a contest. My older brother is no

match for me; he’s much weaker. Your

horse is a good match for mine in the race.

Either one might win.

matter-of-fact businesslike; unfeeling.

(See also as a matter of fact.) Don’t ex-

pect a lot of sympathy from Ann. She’s very

matter-of-fact. Don’t be so matter-of-

fact. It hurts my feelings.

a matter of life and death an issue of

great urgency; a situation that will affect

life or death. We must find a doctor. It’s

a matter of life and death. A matter of

life and death demands that I return home

at once.

a matter of opinion the matter of how

good or bad someone or something is; a

question about which there are different

opinions. It’s a matter of opinion how

good the company is. John thinks it’s great

and Fred thinks it’s poor. How efficient

the committee is is a matter of opinion.

mean business to be very serious and de-

termined about something. (Informal.)

Billy, get into this house and do your

homework, and I mean business.  We

mean business when we say you must stop

all this nonsense.

mean for someone to do something to intend

for someone to do something.

meant for us to go with them to the zoo.

John meant for Jane to do the dishes.

mean nothing (to someone) 1. not to make

sense to someone. This sentence means

nothing to me. It isn’t clearly written.

I’m sorry. This message means nothing. 2.

[for someone] not to have feeling for

(someone or something). Do I mean

nothing to you after all these years? Do

all those years mean nothing?

mean something (to someone) 1. to make

sense to someone. (See also the preced-

ing entry.) Does this line mean anything

to you? Yes, it means something. 2. for

someone to have feeling for (someone or

something). You mean a lot to me.

This job means a lot to Ann.

mean to (do something) to plan or intend to

do something. Did you mean to do

that? No, it was an accident. I didn’t

mean to.

meant to be destined to exist. Our love

was meant to be! It was not meant to be.

meant to be something destined or fated to

be something. Jane was meant to be a

chemist.  I was meant to be rich, but

something didn’t work right!

measure up (to someone or something) to be

equal to someone or something. Ann

is good, but she doesn’t measure up to

Mary. Tom measures up to the job.

measure up (to someone’s expectations)

and measure up to someone’s standards

to be as good as one expects. This mea-

sures up to my standards quite nicely.

This meal doesn’t measure up to my

expectations.

measure up to someone’s standards Go to

measure up (to someone’s expectations).

meat-and-potatoes basic, sturdy, and

hearty. (Often refers to a robust person,

usually a man, with simple tastes in food

and other things.) Fred was your meat-

and-potatoes kind of guy. No creamy

sauces for him. There is no point in try-

ing to cook up something special for the

Wilsons. They are strictly meat-and-

potatoes.

a Mecca for someone a place that is fre-

quently visited by a particular group of

people because it is important to them

for some reason. (From the city of

Mecca, the religious center of Islam.)

New York City is a Mecca for theatergo-

ers. St. Andrews is a Mecca for golf en-

thusiasts because of its famous course.

meek as a lamb Go to (as) meek as a

lamb.

meet one’s death and meet one’s end to

experience something, especially death or

problems. After 20 years, my dog finally

met his death when he got hit by a bus.

The sky diver met his end when his para-

chute didn’t open.

meet one’s end Go to meet one’s death.

meet one’s match to meet one’s equal.

John played tennis with Bill yesterday, and

it looks as if John has finally met his

match. Listen to Jane and Mary argue.

I always thought that Jane was loud, but

she has finally met her match.

meet one’s Waterloo to meet one’s final

and insurmountable challenge. (Refers to

Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.) The

boss is being very hard on Bill. It seems

that Bill has finally met his Waterloo.

John was more than Sally could handle.

She has finally met her Waterloo.

meet someone halfway to offer to compro-

mise with someone. (Also literal.) No,

I won’t give in, but I’ll meet you halfway.

They settled the argument by agreeing

to meet each other halfway.

meet the requirements (for something) to

fulfill the requirements for something.

Sally was unable to meet the requirements

for the job. Jane met the requirements

and was told to report to work the next

a meeting of minds the establishment of

agreement; complete agreement. After

a lot of discussion we finally reached a

meeting of minds. We struggled to bring

about a meeting of minds on the issues.

melt in one’s mouth 1. to taste very good.

(Also can be literal.) This cake is so

good it’ll melt in your mouth. John said

that the food didn’t exactly melt in his

mouth. 2. [of meat] to be very, very ten-

der. My steak is so tender it could melt

in my mouth. This fillet will melt in

your mouth!

mend (one’s) fences to restore good rela-

tions (with someone). (Also literal.) I

think I had better get home and mend my

fences. I had an argument with my daugh-

ter this morning. Sally called up her un-

cle to apologize and try to mend fences.

mend one’s ways to improve one’s behav-

harm was done. 2. [with something] to

make something disorderly. You really

messed this place up! T Who messed up

my bed?

middle-of-the-road halfway between two

extremes, especially political extremes.

(Also literal.) Jane is very left-wing, but

her husband is politically middle-of-the-

road. I don’t want to vote for either the

left-wing or the right-wing candidate. I

prefer someone with more middle-of-the-

road views.

might and main great physical strength;

great force. The huge warrior, with all

his might and main, could not break his




ior. John used to be very wild, but he’s

way through the castle gates.

The in-




mended his ways. You’ll have to mend

your ways if you go out with Mary. She

hates people to be late.

mention someone or something in passing to

mention someone or something casually;

to mention someone or something while

talking about someone or something else.

He just happened to mention in pass-

ing that the mayor had resigned. John

mentioned in passing that he was nearly

eighty years old.

merry as a cricket Go to (as) merry as a

cricket.

merry as the day is long Go to (as) merry

as the day is long.

mess about (with someone or something) Go

to mess around (with someone or something).

mess around (with someone or something)

and mess about (with someone or some-

thing); monkey around (with someone or

something); screw around (with someone

or something) to play with or waste time

with someone or something. (Slang.)

Will you please stop messing around with

that old car! Stop messing about! Get

busy! Tom wastes a lot of time messing

around with Bill. Don’t monkey around

with my computer! John is always

screwing around with his stereo.

mess someone or something up 1. [with some-

one] to rough someone up; to beat some-

one up. (Slang.) The robbers threatened

to mess Bob up if he didn’t cooperate. T

John messed up Bill a little, but no real

credible might and main of the sea crushed

the ship against the cliff.

milestone in someone’s life a very impor-

tant event or point in one’s life. (From the

stone at the side of a road showing the

distance to or from a place.)

wedding was a milestone in her mother’s

life. The birth of a child is a milestone

in every parent’s life.

milk of human kindness natural kindness

and sympathy shown to others. (From

Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, I. v.) Mary

is completely hard and selfish—she has no

milk of human kindness in her. Roger

is too full of the milk of human kindness

and people take advantage of him.

milk someone for something to pressure some-

one into giving information or money.

The reporter milked the mayor’s aide for

information. The thief milked me for

$20.

millstone about one’s neck a continual

burden or handicap. This huge and ex-

pensive house is a millstone about my neck.

Bill’s inability to read is a millstone

about his neck.

mince (one’s) words to lessen the force of

one’s statement by choosing weak or po-

lite words; to be euphemistic. (Formal.)

I won’t mince words. You did a rotten

job. I’m not one to mince words, so I

have to say that you behaved very badly.

mind one’s own business to attend only

to the things that concern one.

me alone, Bill. Mind your own business.

I’d be fine if John would mind his own

business.

mind one’s p’s and q’s to pay attention to

small details of behavior, especially man-

ners. When we go to the mayor’s recep-

tion, please mind your p’s and q’s. I al-

ways mind my p’s and q’s when I eat at a

restaurant with white tablecloths.

mind the store to take care of local mat-

ters. (Also literal. Informal.)

stay here in the office and mind the store

Please while I go to the conference. I had to stay

home and mind the store when Ann went

to Boston.

mind you <a phrase indicating that some-

thing should be taken into considera-

tion.> He’s very well dressed, but mind

you, he’s got plenty of money to buy

clothes. Lisa is unfriendly to me, but

mind you, she’s never very nice to anyone.

mind your manners to be careful to use

good manners. Mind your manners

while we visit Aunt Mary’s house.

Jimmy! Mind your manners!

a mine of information someone or some-

thing that is full of information.

Grandfather is a mine of information

about World War I. The new encyclo-

pedia is a positive mine of useful

information.

the minute something happens the point in

time at which an event happens. I’ll be

inside the minute it rains. Call me the

minute you get to town.

a miscarriage of justice a wrong or mis-

taken decision, especially one made in a

court of law. Sentencing the old man on

a charge of murder proved to be a miscar-

riage of justice. Punishing the student

for cheating was a miscarriage of justice.

He was innocent.

misplace one’s trust (in someone) to put

trust in the wrong person; to put trust in

someone who does not deserve it. The

writer misplaced his trust in his editor.

The voters misplaced their trust in the cor-

rupt politician