English
make up
Verb

make up

  1. To build or complete.
    1. (obsolete) To build, construct (a tower, city etc.). [14th–15th c.]
    2. (obsolete) To build up (a bank, wall etc.) where it has fallen away; to repair. [15th–17th c.]
      • 1611, Bible (Authorized Version), Ezekial XIII.5:
        Yee haue not gone vp into the gaps, neither made vp the hedge for the house of Israel.
    3. (transitive) To compensate for (a deficiency, defect etc.); to supply (something missing). [from 15th c.]
      He can make up the time next week.
    4. (intransitive) To compensate (for). [from 18th c.]
      I plan to make up for my failed midterm.
      Cuba took limited free market-oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services to make up for the ending of Soviet subsidies.
      • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 7, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473 ↗:
        The corn ration was drastically reduced, and it was announced that an extra potato ration would be issued to make up for it.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Meeting Point”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, OCLC 483591931 ↗, page 232 ↗:
        Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
  2. To assemble, prepare.
    1. To compile or draw up (a list, document etc.). [from 14th c.]
    2. To form the components of (a whole or total); to combine to produce. [from 16th c.]
      Synonyms: compose, form, Thesaurus:compose
    3. To put together (a substance, material, garment, medicine etc.) into a specific form; to assemble. [from 16th c.]
      I can make up a batch of stew in a few minutes, but it will take a few hours to cook.
    4. To invent or fabricate (a story, claim etc.). [from 17th c.]
      He was a great storyteller and could make up a story on the spot.
    5. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To prepare (someone) for a theatrical performance by means of costume, cosmetics etc.; i now chiefly to apply cosmetics or makeup to (a face, facial feature). [from 18th c.]
      Synonyms: cosmeticize, fard
      Let's leave as soon as I make up my face.
  3. To settle or arrange.
    1. (obsolete) To arrange (a marriage); to organise (a treaty). [16th–19th c.]
    2. (intransitive) To resolve or settle an argument or fight (with someone). [from 17th c.]
      They fight a lot, but they always manage to make up.
      • 1782, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 180:
        Miss Palmer and I made up, though she scolded most violently about my long absence, and attacked me about the Book without mercy.
    3. (transitive) To resolve (an argument or dispute). [from 17th c.]
    4. To make social or romantic advances to; to pay court to. [from 18th c.]
      • 1934, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night: A Romance, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 284462 ↗; republished as chapter III, in Malcolm Cowley, editor, Tender is the Night: A Romance [...] With the Author’s Final Revisions, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951, OCLC 849279868 ↗, book I (Case History: 1917–1919), page 16 ↗:
        She thought he was making up to her—of course, at the time I believed her and I let him go, but I know now it was all nonsense.
Related terms Translations
  • Italian: comporsi
  • Russian: составля́ть
  • Spanish: constituir
Translations Translations Translations
  • Russian: собира́ть
  • Spanish: ensamblar
Translations
  • French: maquiller
  • Italian: truccarsi
  • Portuguese: maquiar
  • Russian: (intransitive) кра́ситься
  • Spanish: maquillar, maquillarse (pronominal)
Translations

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