make out

make out
{v.} 1. To write the facts asked for (as in an application blank or a report form); fill out. * /The teacher made out the report cards and gave them to the students to take home./ * /Mrs. Smith gave the clerk in the store some money and the clerk made out a receipt./ 2. To see, hear, or understand by trying hard. * /It was dark, and we could not make out who was coming along the road./ * /They could not make out what the child had drawn. /* /The book had many hard words and Anne could not make out what the writer meant./ * /Mr. White does many strange things. No one can make him out./ Syn.: FIGURE OUT. 3. {informal} To make someone believe; show; prove. * /Charles and Bob had a fight, and Charles tried to make out that Bob started it./ * /The boy said he did not take the money but the teacher found the money in the boy's desk and it made him out to be a liar./ 4. {informal} Do well enough; succeed. * /John's father wanted John to do well in school and asked the teacher how John was making out./ * /The sick woman could not make out alone in her house, so her friend came and helped her./ 5. To kiss or pet. * /What are Jack and Jill up to? - They're making out on the back porch./

Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.

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  • make out — [v1] see, recognize detect, discern, discover, distinguish, espy, notice, observe, perceive, remark; concept 626 Ant. fail make out [v2] understand accept, catch, collect, compass, comprehend, conclude, decipher, deduce, deduct, derive, dig,… …   New thesaurus

  • make out — (v.) c.1600, get along, from MAKE (Cf. make) (v.) + OUT (Cf. out). Sense of understand is from 1640s; sexual sense first recorded 1939 …   Etymology dictionary

  • make out — ► make out 1) manage with difficulty to see, hear, or understand. 2) represent as or pretend. 3) draw up (a list or document). 4) informal make progress; fare. Main Entry: ↑make …   English terms dictionary

  • make out — index detect, discern (detect with the senses), hear (perceive by ear), note (notice), perceive, pierce (discern) …   Law dictionary

  • make out — 1) PHRASAL VERB If you make something out, you manage with difficulty to see or hear it. [V P n (not pron)] I could just make out a tall, pale, shadowy figure tramping through the undergrowth... [V n P] She thought she heard a name. She couldn t… …   English dictionary

  • make out — verb 1. detect with the senses (Freq. 8) The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards I can t make out the faces in this photograph • Syn: ↑spot, ↑recognize, ↑recognise, ↑distinguish, ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

  • make out — phrasal verb Word forms make out : present tense I/you/we/they make out he/she/it makes out present participle making out past tense made out past participle made out 1) a) [transitive] to see, hear, or understand someone or something with… …   English dictionary

  • make out — {v.} 1. To write the facts asked for (as in an application blank or a report form); fill out. * /The teacher made out the report cards and gave them to the students to take home./ * /Mrs. Smith gave the clerk in the store some money and the clerk …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • make\ out — v 1. To write the facts asked for (as in an application blank or a report form); fill out. The teacher made out the report cards and gave them to the students to take home. Mrs. Smith gave the clerk in the store some money and the clerk made out… …   Словарь американских идиом

  • make out — 1) do, progress How did you make out at your job interview yesterday? 2) understand, interpret I can never make out what he wants to say when he phones me. 3) distinguish, identify The ship captain couldn t make out the other boat because of the… …   Idioms and examples

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