make n.2
1. a successful robbery or swindle.
| , , | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Sl. Dict. |
| A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 161: Good Gordon’s beer! [...] Ernest Wells! An’ both of us at the same good old game — the ‘make’! | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | et al. DAUL 133/1: Make, n. 1. Professional thievery in general. [...] 2. A specific robbery, especially by the craftier methods, as in confidence games, picking pockets, etc. |
2. (US Und.) the proceeds of a theft or robbery.
| Enemy to Society 331: If we’re going to ‘slough’ our ‘make,’ we’ve gotta keep our eyes open for them guys. |
3. a seduction.
| ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 20: ‘It’s not a make,’ I said. ‘You’re in trouble.’. |
4. (US) a description or an identification of a suspect, esp. through fingerprinting, photofit or other forms of police records.
 | in Gangbusters [radio script] We got a make on his prints [W&F]. | |
| Men from the Boys (1967) 74: All Lawrence remembers is dimly seeing a guy that looked like Dick Tracy and [...] I think that Dick Tracy stuff is a good make. | |
| ‘Have Coolth’ Gentleman Junkie 128: Derry Maylor was about medium height ... this is the make on him, so dig. | |
| Cutter and Bone (2001) 36: Captain, first let me give you a short make on our witness here. | |
| Blood on the Moon 200: ‘We've run a make on him. All we got was unpaid traffic warrants’. | |
| (con. early 1950s) L.A. Confidential 141: No way police agencies could subpoena records, no make on incoming calls. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 61: That put enough numbers on the slate for me to get a make on the fake Samaritan [...] The guy was a wolf. | |
| ‘Jungletown Jihad’ Destination: Morgue! (2004) 334: I called the DMV [...] A clerk caught the ‘DeFrzz’ stats and coughed up a make. | |
| ‘Amphetamine Twitch’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] Mitchell wanted a make on the Mexican. | |
| Widespread Panic 231: It’s a make. The Nick Adams swag matches the manifests for six 459’s. |
5. (US) kissing, necking.
| et al. CUSS 155: Make, Have a To neck. |
6. see easy make under easy adj.
In phrases
(US) to become sexually aggressive.
| Current Sl. IV:1 10: Lay the make, v. To become sexually aggressive. |
of the highest quality.
| Pierce Egan’s Life in London 26 Sept. 4/3: Lots of tumblers were well filled; and several gigs of the first make. |
1. seeking sexual activity.
| N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 18 Aug, n.p.: Fatty Twitchell has got disgusted with Lize King, and left her. He says she was too much ‘on the make’. | |
| Bismarck (ND) Trib. 3 Nov. 4/4: A New York correspondent [...] had a dream of going down to the bay [...] to interview the Jersey Lily, who used lots of slang, and told him she was ‘on the make.’ But this was only a dream. | |
| Broadway Melody 73: Francis Warriner, the best known ‘on-the-make’ party aroun’ Broadway. | |
| Hollywood Girl 42: Of course he’s on the make and what of it, all men are. | |
| Amboy Dukes 23: A kid who was definitely [...] on the make. | |
| Run, Chico, Run (1959) 27: Other cats, they’re on the make – that’s plain enough. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 18: Anybody who tipped me at the Green Cat was usually drunk or on the make. | |
| Down These Mean Streets (1970) 112: [She] was talking with a guy who I knew was always on the make. | |
| Listening to America 97: She was clearly on the make. | |
| Dict. of Invective (1991) 390: tomcat. A male who is on the make or, as a verb, to chase women, from the name of the hero of a bestseller of 1760. | |
| (con. 1964-65) Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 30: A couple of shirtlifters on the make. | |
| Florida Roadkill 108: Two men on the make walked up to the secretaries. | |
| Robbers (2001) 25: Whoa now, Beth on the make, a good sign. |
2. looking to benefit oneself, ambitious, keen to do whatever will be most useful for one’s own advancement or profit; also attrib.
| Vancouver Island and British Columbia 416: The slang in vogue in the mining regions is imported mainly from California, and is often as expressive as it is original. [...] A mean and greedy man is ‘on the make’. | |
| Memoirs of the US Secret Service 54: They had a soft thing of it [...] They were on the make, continually. | |
| Talford. An Affair at the — Club 29: What would the Bowery boy call right? His mottto in life is, ‘I’m on the make’. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 17 Mar. 1/6: Everyone appears to be ‘on the make’ in this sordid age, when all are for [...] themselves. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Aug. 24/2: ’Ome doggy journal, Our Dogs, struck trouble by offering a reward, and ‘no questions asked,’ for a lost hound, whereat some caitiff ‘on the make’ set the 40-year-old Larceny Act in motion and got £50. Leave was, however, given to appeal. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Lighter Side of School Life 224: A newly elected Member of Parliament [...] rarely if ever addresses the House during his first session. He leaves that to Radical thrusters and Scotsmen on the make. | |
| ‘The Janeites’ Debits and Credits (1926) 159: One of ’em was a curate—the Reverend Collins—always on the make an’ lookin’ to marry money. | |
| Mystery Mile (1982) 308: Since we’re all on the make [...] I’ll give you a piece of information for your first fifty. | |
| Horse’s Mouth (1948) 298: I told you I was on the make. | |
| Crazy Kill 11: She worked in the chorus line [...] and she looked strictly on the make. | |
| Owning Up (1974) 224: The producers [were] fed up with bandleaders on the make who were willing if necessary to kiss their rings. | |
| Listening to America 11: Past boarded-up stores and pushers on the make. | |
| Fixx 18: The yob on the make. | |
| Truman Capote 444: He thought everyone was just like him: made up, on the make, malicious. | |
| Guardian G2 28 July 13: He is just another on-the-make hillbilly. | |
| Brown Bread in Wengen [ebook] ‘Chingford is full of little men on the make and their ghastly blonde wives’. | |
| Observer Rev. 30 Jan. 2: In N.Y., where almost everyone is on the make, you’re judged solely according to your value as a contact. |
3. engaged in theft or swindling.
| It’s a Racket! 226: go on the make—Begin a career of crime. | |
| et al. DAUL 133/1: Make, n. [...] 3. ‘On the make.’ Actively pursuing a criminal career; ready to participate in any lucrative criminal venture. | |
| USA Confidential 5: Farmers are on the make like everyone else, to rob the railroads, beat banks and gyp consumers. | |
| Urban Grimshaw 54: Everyone was on the make, out to stitch her up. |
4. (US Und.) of a police officer, willing to be bribed.
| Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 104: ‘Are you on the make?’ ‘What have you to offer?’ ‘You can drop to a big sum.’. |
(UK Und.) working as a criminal; indulging in some form of criminality.
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 7/2: Seeing so many different ‘schools,’ and all upon the ‘make-game,’ [he] thought it would be ‘cocum’ to ‘plant’ his stuff for safety’s sake. |
(US police) to identify a suspect.
| Underground Dict. (1972) 163: run a make [...] Conduct a police check on a person [...] done by radio. | |
| Choirboys (1976) 95: Pulling the hand mike outside to run a make. | |
| Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 17: I couldn’t afford to pay them and one day one of your motor cops ran a make on me and put me in jail. |
1. (US) to make sexual advances.
| Adulterers 109: ‘Then one day this guy put the make on me and I got all hot and I let him’. | |
| City of Night 14 4: That was the first guy ever put the make on me. | |
| Inner City Hoodlum 37: He wondered how many dudes were trying to put the make on her. | |
| Skin Tight 47: Secure enough to tell Reynaldo Flemm to go pound salt every time he put the make on her. | |
| Stalker (2001) 315: Has he ever put the make on you? | |
| Life 181: With English chicks it was you’re putting the make on her or she’s putting the make on you, yea or nay. |
2. (US) to assess.
| (con. 1920s) Legs 144: You always say, when you meet somebody new, the first thing you do is put the make on them, and if the figures are okay, level with them. |
to describe.
| ‘Have Coolth’ Gentleman Junkie 133: The Tiger had put the make to her proper. |