on the make
prep_phraseEtymology From make (“companion, spouse, mate”), related to match (“counterpart, partner”).
1
Informal Actively seeking a romantic encounter or relationship.
- Harry (Matthew Cowles) and Tim (Timothy Meyers) are an inseparable pair of macho punks always on the make for an easy sexual score.1973 November 26, T. E. Kalem, “The Theatre: Savage Mating Dance”, in Time:
2
Broadly, Informal Actively seeking an opportunity for self-advancement; eager to ingratiate oneself to others in order to secure some advantage.
- In a city where everybody was "hustling," everybody, as they phrased it, "on the make," why should anyone take a second glance at Peter Gudge?1920, Upton Sinclair, chapter 1, in 100%: The Story of a Patriot:
- She said that anyone under the age of thirty living in a resort community was on the make somehow: “pimping, dealing, hooking, detoxing, escaping, scamming, or what have you.”1991, Douglas Coupland, “It Can't Last”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 36:
- Derived terms
- on-the-make-ness
- Related terms
- put the make on