Chapter Mahoun' to Make the Ice of M by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Majolica Ware A pottery originally made in the island of Majorca or Majolica, and lately revived by Mr. Minton.

Majority He has joined the majority. He is dead. Blair says, in his Grave, “ 'tis long since Death had the majority.” “Abiit ad plures;” “Quin prius me ad plures penetravi” (Plautus; Trinummus, line 14). “Beatos eos fore, quando cum pluribus habitarint.” (See Polybius, viii. xxx. 7.)

Make
   What make you here? What do you want? What are you come here for? A French phrase: “Que faites-vous ici?”

“Now, sir, what make you here?”- Shakespeare: As You Like It, i. 1.

Make a hand of or on (To). To slay, destroy, waste, or spoil.

“So when I came to myself again, I cried him mercy: but he said, `I know not to show mercy;' and with that knockt me down again. He had, doubtless, made a hand of me, but that one came by, and bid him forbear.”- Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, p. 93 (first edition).

Make a Hit (To). To succeed unexpectedly in an adventure or speculation. (See Hit .)

Make a Virtue of Necessity (To). See Chaucer's poem of the Knightes Tale, line 3,044; also The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Dryden's poem of Palamon and Arcite.

Make away with (To). To squander; to put out of the way; to murder. The French verb défaire is used sometimes in a similar way; as, “Il tâcha de se défaire secrètement de ses pariers.”

Make away with Oneself (To) To commit suicide.

Make Bricks without Straw (To). To attempt to do something without having the necessary material supplied. The allusion is to the Israelites in Egypt, who were commanded by their taskmasters so to do. (Exodus v. 7.)

Make Eyes at (To). To flirt with the eyes. “Oculis venari” (See Cast .)

Make Mountains of Molehills (To). To make a difficulty of trifles. “Arcem ex cloaca facare.” The corresponding French proverb is, “Faire d'un mouche un éléphant.”

Make one's Bread (To). To earn one's living

Make the Door (To). To make it fast by shutting and bolting it. We still say, “Have you made my room?”- i.e. made it tidy. Similarly, to “make the bed” is to arrange it fit for use.

“Why at this time the doors are made against you.” Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors, iii. 1.

“Make the door upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement.”- Shakespeare: As You Like It, iv. 1.

Make the Ice (To). To near the whale-fishing ground. To make for the ice is to steer in that direction.

“About the end of April we neared the fishing ground, or, to be more technical, `made the ice'.” C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 128.