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The Collaborative International Dictionary
To make away with

Make \Make\ (m[=a]k), v. i.

  1. To act in a certain manner; to have to do; to manage; to interfere; to be active; -- often in the phrase to meddle or make. [Obs.]

    A scurvy, jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make.
    --Shak.

  2. To proceed; to tend; to move; to go; as, he made toward home; the tiger made at the sportsmen.

    Note: Formerly, authors used to make on, to make forth, to make about; but these phrases are obsolete. We now say, to make at, to make away, to make for, to make off, to make toward, etc.

  3. To tend; to contribute; to have effect; -- with for or against; as, it makes for his advantage.
    --M. Arnold.

    Follow after the things which make for peace.
    --Rom. xiv. 19.

    Considerations infinite Do make against it.
    --Shak.

  4. To increase; to augment; to accrue.

  5. To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. [Archaic] --Chaucer. Tennyson. To solace him some time, as I do when I make. --P. Plowman. To make as if, or To make as though, to pretend that; to make show that; to make believe (see under Make, v. t.). Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled. --Josh. viii. 15. My lord of London maketh as though he were greatly displeased with me. --Latimer. To make at, to go toward hastily, or in a hostile manner; to attack. To make away with.

    1. To carry off.

    2. To transfer or alienate; hence, to spend; to dissipate.

    3. To kill; to destroy. To make off, to go away suddenly. To make out, to succeed; to manage oneself; to be able at last; to make shift; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties; after the earthquake they made out all right. (b) to engage in fond caresses; to hug and kiss; to neck; -- of courting couples or individuals (for individuals, used with with); as, they made out on a bench in the park; he was making out with the waitress in the kitchen [informal] To make up, to become reconciled or friendly. To make up for, to compensate for; to supply an equivalent for. To make up to.

      1. To approach; as, a suspicious boat made up to us.

      2. To pay addresses to; to make love to.

        To make up with, to become reconciled to. [Colloq.]

        To make with, to concur or agree with.
        --Hooker.

To make away with

Away \A*way"\, adv. [AS. aweg, anweg, onweg; on on + weg way.]

  1. From a place; hence.

    The sound is going away.
    --Shak.

    Have me away, for I am sore wounded.
    --2 Chron. xxxv. 23.

  2. Absent; gone; at a distance; as, the master is away from home.

  3. Aside; off; in another direction.

    The axis of rotation is inclined away from the sun.
    --Lockyer.

  4. From a state or condition of being; out of existence.

    Be near me when I fade away.
    --Tennyson.

  5. By ellipsis of the verb, equivalent to an imperative: Go or come away; begone; take away.

    And the Lord said . . . Away, get thee down.
    --Exod. xix. 24.

  6. On; in continuance; without intermission or delay; as, sing away. [Colloq.] Note: It is much used in phrases signifying moving or going from; as, go away, run away, etc.; all signifying departure, or separation to a distance. Sometimes without the verb; as, whither away so fast ? ``Love hath wings, and will away.'' --Waller. It serves to modify the sense of certain verbs by adding that of removal, loss, parting with, etc.; as, to throw away; to trifle away; to squander away, etc. Sometimes it has merely an intensive force; as, to blaze away. Away with, bear, abide. [Obs. or Archaic] ``The calling of assemblies, I can not away with.'' (--Isa. i. 13), i. e., ``I can not bear or endure [it].'' Away with one, signifies, take him away. ``Away with him, crucify him.'' --John xix. 15. To make away with.

    1. To kill or destroy.

    2. To carry off.

Usage examples of "to make away with".

The burden of which disdain Nastagio found so hard to bear, that many a time, when he had made his moan, he longed to make away with himself.

He also is an inventor, and he has employed an agent of the assassins' guild to make away with me.

It was all too evident that I had been lured to the cavern by some one who desired to make away with me.

That's what kept the poor thing on wires, and that, I feel certain, is what drove her to make away with herself.