make out

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 make it out, though...

[V P wh] I heard the voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

2) PHRASAL VERB If you try to make something out, you try to understand it or decide whether or not it is true.

[V n P] I couldn't make it out at all...

[V P wh] It is hard to make out what criteria are used...

[V P] At first I thought it was an accident, but as far as I can make out, the police consider that's unlikely.

Syn:
3) PHRASAL VERB If you make out that something is the case or make something out to be the case, you try to cause people to believe that it is the case.

[V P that] They were trying to make out that I'd actually done it...

[V n P to-inf] I don't think it was as glorious as everybody made it out to be...

[V n P to-inf] He's more business-minded than he makes himself out to be...

[V P] He was never half as bad as his teachers made out.

4) PHRASAL VERB If you make out a case for something, you try to establish or prove that it is the best thing to do.

[V P n (not pron) for/against n] You could certainly make out a case for this point of view...

[V P n (not pron)] Alice continued making out her case. [Also V n P]

5) PHRASAL VERB When you make out a cheque, receipt, or order form, you write all the necessary information on it.

[V n P to n] If you would like to send a donation, you can make a cheque out to Feed the Children...

[V n P to n] All cheques should be made out to `EF International Language Schools'...

[V P n (not pron)] I'm going to make out a receipt for you.

6) PHRASAL VERB If you ask how someone is making out, you are asking how well they are doing with a particular task, or in their life in general. [INFORMAL]

[V P adv] Who is making out better right now?...

[V P adv] Bob turned over to sleep again, wondering how Jupiter and Pete were making out.

Syn:
7) PHR-V-RECIP If two people are making out, they are engaged in sexual activity. [mainly AM, INFORMAL]

[pl-n V P] ...pictures of the couple making out in their underwear on the beach. [Also V P with n]


English dictionary. 2008.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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 — 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 …   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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