make oneself at home to make oneself comfortable as if one were in one’s own home.. make someone’s hair stand on end to cause someone to be very frightened.. make someone’s mouth water t
Trang 1(Informal.) 2 to scold or punish
someone severely
make mischief to cause trouble.
make off with someone or
thing to leave and take away
some-one or something
make oneself at home to make
oneself comfortable as if one were
in one’s own home
make oneself clear to give a clear
explanation or clear orders
make oneself heard to speak
loudly so that one will be heard
above the noise
make (out) after someone or
something to run after someone or
something; to start out after
some-one or something
make (out) for someone or
some-thing to run toward someone,
something, or someplace
make out (with someone or
some-thing) to manage satisfactorily
with someone or something
make over someone or something
to pay a lot of attention to
some-one or something
make overtures to give hints
about something; to present or
suggest ideas
make reservations Go to make a
reservation.
make short work of someone or
something and make fast work
of someone or something to finish
with someone or something
quickly
make someone or something over
to convert someone or something
into a new or different person or
thing
make someone or something tick
to cause someone or something to run or function (Originally the kind of thing that would be said about a clock or a watch.)
make someone the scapegoat for
something to make someone take the blame for something
make someone up to put makeup
on someone, including oneself
make someone’s bed Go to make a bed.
make someone’s blood boil to
make someone very angry
make someone’s blood run cold
to shock or horrify someone
make someone’s hair stand on end to cause someone to be very
frightened
make someone’s head spin Go to
make someone’shead swim.
make someone’s head swim and make someone’s head spin 1 to
make someone dizzy or
disori-ented 2 to confuse or overwhelm
someone
make someone’s mouth water to
make someone hungry (for some-thing); to cause someone to sali-vate
make something from scratch to
make something by starting with the basic ingredients
make something off (of ) someone
or something to make money from someone or something
make something out to see, read,
or hear something well enough to understand it
make something up 1 to invent a
story or tale; to fabricate some-make mischief
346
Trang 2thing, such as a story or a lie 2 to
redo something; to do something
that one has failed to do in the
past
make something up out of whole
cloth to create a story or a lie
from no facts at all
make something worth someone’s
while to make something
prof-itable enough for someone to do
make the feathers fly Go to make
the fur fly.
make the fur fly and make the
feathers fly to cause a fight or an
argument
make the grade to be satisfactory;
to be what is expected
make up for lost time to do much
of something; to do something
fast
make up something to form or
constitute something; to be a part
of something
make up (with someone) to
rec-oncile with someone; to end a
dis-agreement (with someone)
make use of someone or
some-thing to use or utilize someone or
something
makeup ["mek @p] 1 n substances
applied to the face to improve its
appearance (No plural Treated as
singular.) 2 n the contents of
something; the parts or substances
that form something (No plural
Treated as singular.) 3 the adj use
of Q
male ["mel] 1 adj of or about men
or boys; of or about animals of the
sex that is, at maturity, capable of
causing a female to become
preg-nant 2 adj [of an electrical or electronic connector] having short metal rods to be inserted into or between electrical contacts 3 n a human or animal that is Q
malice ["mAl Is] n the desire to
harm someone or something; the desire to do something evil (No plural.)
mall ["mOl] 1 n a large building
with many stores inside; a
shop-ping center 2 n a wide, formal
walkway, usually lined with trees
mallet ["mAl @t] n a tool shaped
like a hammer with a large head
mammal ["mAm @l] n one of a
large class of warm-blooded ani-mals whose females are able to produce milk to feed their young
man ["mAn] 1 n., irreg an adult
male person (Plural: men.) 2 n.
the human race; all people (No
plural Treated as singular.) 3 n.,
irreg a strong and brave human
male 4 tv to provide a business
or organization with one’s services
or labor
→ be a marked man
→ ladies’ man
→ odd man out
→ young man
a man about town a fashionable
man who leads a sophisticated life
the man in the street the ordinary
person
manage ["mAn IdZ] tv to be in
charge of someone or something;
to guide someone or something
manage to do something to be able
to do something, even though there are problems
manage to do something
347
Trang 3manager ["mAn I dZ#] n someone
who manages or controls someone
or something
maniac ["men i Ak] 1 n someone
who has a dangerous, sometimes
violent, mental illness 2 n
some-one who is wild, foolish, and too
eager (Figurative on Q.)
mankind ["mAn "kaInd] n the
human race; all people (No
plu-ral Treated as singular.)
manna from heaven unexpected
help or comfort; an unanticipated
benefit or advantage
manner ["mAn #] n a method; a
style; a way of doing something; a
way of being
mannerism ["mAn @ rIz @m] n a
gesture or movement of a certain
person; a habit or trait of a certain
person
manners n the elements of proper
and polite behavior
mansion ["mAn S@n] n a very large
house; a large, elegant house
mantel ["mAn t@l] n the frame
around a fireplace, and especially
the shelf above the fireplace
mantle ["mAn t@l] n something
that completely covers or weighs
down someone or something, such
as a heavy coat
man-to-man and
woman-to-woman speaking frankly and
directly, one person to another
manual ["mAn j(u )@l] 1 n a book
that explains how to do or use
something; an instruction book; a
book of information about
some-thing 2 adj of or about the hand
or hands (Adv: manually.)
manufacture [mAn j@ "fAk tS#]
1 n the science and business of
making products in factories or
industry (No plural.) 2 tv to
make something in large amounts
in a factory or by using machines
manufacturer [mAn j@ "fAk tS# #]
n a person, business, or company
that manufactures products
manuscript ["mAn j@ skrIpt] 1 n.
a book or text that is written by
hand 2 n the original copy of a
book or article that is sent to a publisher
many ["mEn i] 1 adj., irreg
numer-ous; of a large number (See also moreand mostfor the comparative and superlative Manyis used with things that can be counted Com-pare this with much.) 2 pron a
large number of people; a large number of people or things already referred to
→ have too many irons in the fire
→ how many
→ in many respects
map ["mAp] 1 n a drawing that
shows certain features of the earth’s surface; a sketch or draw-ing that shows locations or the relations between things or places
2 tv to draw Q.
map something out to plot
some-thing out carefully, usually on paper
marble ["mar b@l] 1 n a kind of
stone that can be cut, shaped, and polished (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n a small, solid ball of colored glass, used in mar-bles 3 adj made of Q.
manager
348
Trang 4marbles n a game that involves
directing one marble W into a
group of them
march ["martS] 1 iv to walk in
rigid steps, in the manner of a
sol-dier 2 iv to walk someplace with
a certain goal in mind; to walk
someplace for a certain reason
3 tv to force someone to move or
walk 4 n an act of walking in a
line, like soldiers 5 n a
demon-stration or protest where people
are walking with signs or
chant-ing 6 n music that has a strong
beat and is used in parades or
while soldiers march as in Q
7 Go to month (Capitalized.)
→ (as) mad as a March hare
→ steal a march (on someone)
march on [for time] to continue.
march to a different drummer
to believe in a different set of
prin-ciples; to be unconventional in
one’s values
margarine ["mar dZ@ rIn] n a food
made from animal or vegetable
fats, used in place of butter; a
spread for bread (Plural only for
types and instances.)
margin ["mar dZIn] 1 n the space
between the edge of a text and the
edge of the page 2 n an extra
amount; the amount that is more
than what is needed
marine [m@ "rin] 1 adj of or about
salt water and the creatures that
live in salt water 2 adj of, about,
from, or concerning the sea 3.
adj of or about ships and shipping
on the sea 4 n someone who is a
member of the U.S Marine Corps,
a branch of the United States
mili-tary services that serves on land and sea and in the air
mark ["mark] 1 n a spot; a stain; a
dent; something that spoils a clear
or clean surface 2 n a line or
fig-ure made by a pencil, crayon, pen,
or other writing device 3 n.
something that is a sign of some-thing; something that stands for something else 4 iv to draw or
make Q 5 tv to put a spot on
something; to stain something; to spoil an otherwise clear or clean surface with Q 6 tv to indicate something; to show something; to symbolize or represent something;
to stand for something
→ be a marked man
→ leave one’smark on someone
→ punctuation mark
→ question mark
→ quotation marks
→ toe the mark
→ wide of the mark
mark something down 1 to reduce the price of something 2 to write
something down on paper
mark something up 1 to make marks all over something 2 to raise the price of something 3 to
raise the wholesale price of an item to the retail level
market ["mar kIt] 1 n a place or
building where people gather to
buy and sell things 2 n the
busi-ness, building, or system through which company shares are traded (Short for stock market.) 3 n an
area or a country where a product
is needed or used; a certain group
of people for which a product is needed or by which a product is used 4 n the demand for a
cer-tain product 5 tv to advertise a
market
349
Trang 5product; to promote a product; to
make a plan for selling a product
→ adrug on the market
→ on the market
→ stock market
marketplace ["mar kIt ples] 1 n a
place, usually outside, where
things are bought and sold 2 n.
trade; buying and selling (No
plu-ral.)
markup ["mark @p] n a price
increase; the amount a price is
raised
marriage ["mEr IdZ] 1 n the
reli-gious or legal union of a husband
and a wife 2 n the ceremony that
joins a man and a woman in Q; a
wedding
marry ["mEr i] 1 iv to unite with
someone in a marriage 2 tv to
unite two people in a marriage; to
perform a wedding ceremony
3 tv to take someone as a
hus-band or a wife
→ get married
marsh ["marS] n a low area of land
sometimes covered with water
marshmallow ["marS mEl o] n a
soft, spongy candy made from
sugar (Originally made from the
roots of a flower called the marsh
mallow.)
marvel ["mar v@l] n someone or
something that is amazing or
sur-prising
masculine ["mAs kj@ lIn] 1 adj.
having features usually associated
with a male; manly (Adv:
mascu-linely.) 2 adj a grammar term
describing a certain class of nouns,
some of which refer to males (See
also gender.)
mash ["mAS] tv to crush
some-thing until it is a soft paste; to beat something into a pulp or paste
mash something up to crush
some-thing into a paste or pieces
mask ["mAsk] 1 n a covering that disguises the face 2 n a covering
that protects the face, eyes, nose,
or mouth 3 tv to conceal
some-thing; to hide somesome-thing; to put W
on someone or something
mass ["mAs] 1 n an amount of
something with no specific shape;
a lump; a heap 2 n the scientific
term for the amount of matter that makes up an object (No plural.)
3 adj suitable for many people or
things; involving many people or
things (Prenominal only.) 4 n a
Christian church service with communion (Capitalized.)
massive ["mAs Iv] adj very large;
enormous; powerful (Adv: mas-sively.)
mast ["mAst] n [on a ship] an
upright beam or pole to which sails are attached
→ at half-mast
master ["mAst #] 1 n a person
who has authority over people, animals, or things; a man who has authority over people, animals, or things 2 n someone who is very
skilled at something 3 n an
orig-inal page or document that copies
are made from 4 the adj use of
Q, W, or E (Prenominal only.)
5 adj primary; main; chief;
con-trolling everything else
(Prenomi-nal only.) 6 adj of professio(Prenomi-nal
standing or quality (Prenominal
only.) 7 tv to become skilled in
something; to learn how to do marketplace
350
Trang 6something well; to gain control of
an ability
mat ["mAt] 1 n a piece of material
for covering part of a floor,
espe-cially in front of a door 2 n a
piece of thick, padded material
used to cushion falls in certain
sports 3 n a tangled mass of hair,
weeds, strings, or other things
match ["mAtS] 1 n a sporting
event; a competition 2 n
some-one or something that is the equal
of or just like someone or
some-thing else; two people or some-things
that are equal or alike 3 n a thin
stick with a chemical substance on
one end, which, when struck
against a hard surface, creates fire
4 tv [for something] to be exactly
like something else; to fit
thing exactly; to go with
some-thing well 5 iv to be exactly alike;
to go together well; to fit together
well
→ meet one’smatch
→ strike a match
→ whole shooting match
match up [for people or things] to
match, be equal, or
complemen-tary
mate ["met] 1 n the sexual partner
of a living creature 2 n a spouse;
a husband or a wife 3 n one of a
pair 4 n a friend or colleague; a
person who shares someplace or
activity with someone 5 iv to
have sex; to breed (Used
prima-rily of animals.) 6 tv to bring a
male and female animal together
so that breeding will result
material [m@ "tIr i @l] 1 n a
sub-stance that an object is made of; a
substance that can be used to
make things 2 n cloth; fabric
(No plural.) 3 n information,
knowledge, experience, or imagi-nation used to develop a story, movie, book, program, etc (No plural.) 4 adj of or about the
physical world (Adv: materially.)
5 adj of importance or relevance.
(Adv: materially.)
maternal [m@ "t# n@l] 1 adj of or
about mothers or motherhood
(Adv: maternally.) 2 adj related
through the mother’s side of the
family (Adv: maternally.)
math ["mAT] 1 n mathematics (No
plural Treated as singular.) 2 the
adj use of Q.
mathematic [mAT @ "mAt Ik] adj.
having the exactness or precision
of mathematics (See also mathe-matics.)
mathematics [mAT @ "mAt Iks] n.
the science that studies the prop-erties and relationships of num-bers and shapes (Treated as singular.)
matter ["mAt #] 1 n anything that takes up space (No plural.) 2 n a
certain kind of substance (No
plural.) 3 n a concern; an issue;
an affair 4 iv to be important; to
have meaning
→ thecrux of the matter
→ get to the heart of the matter
→ gray matter
→ no laughing matter
→ subject matter
a matter of life and death a
mat-ter of great urgency; an issue that will decide between living and dying (Usually an exaggeration Sometimes humorous.) matter of life and death
351
Trang 7a matter of opinion the issue of
how good or bad someone or
something is
mattress ["mA trIs] n a large,
rec-tangular pad that is used to sleep
on
mature [m@ "tSUr] 1 adj [of
some-one] adult or fully grown; [of fruit
or vegetables] ripe or ready to eat
(Adv: maturely.) 2 adj
character-istic of an adult; sensible;
respon-sible (Adv: maturely.) 3 tv to
cause someone or something to
become Q or W 4 iv to become
Q 5 iv [for a bond] to reach full
value; [for a payment] to be due
maturity [m@ "tSUr @ ti] 1 n the
state of being mature or
devel-oped; the degree to which
some-one or something is mature (No
plural.) 2 n human wisdom;
adult thinking (No plural.) 3 n.
the date when an amount of
money becomes due and must be
paid
maximum ["mAk s@ m@m] 1 n the
highest amount or degree possible;
the upper limit or boundary
2 adj greatest; highest; most.
may ["me] 1 aux be allowed to do
something; have permission to do
something (Often canis used in
place ofmay, even though, in
stan-dard English, canrefers to ability,
and mayrefers to permission See
also might.) 2 aux be possible.
(See also might.) 3 aux a form
used to extend a wish or express a
hope; let it be that 4 Go to
month (Capitalized.)
→ come what may
maybe ["me bi] adv perhaps;
possi-bly yes, possipossi-bly no
mayonnaise [me @ "nez] n a
creamy sauce for salads and sand-wiches; a sauce made from eggs, oil, and vinegar (No plural.)
mayor ["me #] n the elected leader
of a city, town, or village
maze ["mez] 1 n a network of
connected passages, arranged so that it is hard to get from one place to another because most of the paths are blocked 2 n some-thing that is as confusing as Q (Figurative on Q.)
me ["mi] 1 pron the objective form
ofI, the first-person singular pro-noun (Used after prepositions and transitive verbs and as an indi-rect object 2 pron a first-person singular form (Used after a short-ened form ofbeto refer to the speaker or writer Usually, either
“It’s me” or the more formal “It is I.” Rarely, if ever, “It’s I” or “It is me.”)
meadow ["mEd o] n an area of
grass-covered land; an area of land where cows, sheep, or goats can eat
meal ["mil] 1 n a regular occasion
where food is eaten, especially
breakfast, lunch, or dinner 2 n the food that is eaten at Q 3 n.
crushed grain; flour (Plural only for types and instances.)
→ square meal
mealy-mouthed not frank or
direct (Informal.)
mean ["min] 1 adj cruel; not kind;
selfish (Adv: meanly Comp:
meaner; sup: meanest.) 2 adj average (Prenominal only.) 3 n.
an average; the average of a group
of numbers 4 tv., irreg [for
lan-matter of opinion
352
Trang 8guage] to represent, indicate, or
express something; [for someone]
to indicate, express, or intend
something by words or actions
(Past tense and past participle:
meant.) 5 tv., irreg [for
thing] to indicate or signal
some-thing 6 iv., irreg to intend to do
something
mean (for someone) to do
some-thing to intend (for someone) to
do something
meaning ["min IN] n the sense of a
word, statement, or symbol; what
a word, statement, or symbol
means
means ["minz] n one’s [financial]
ability to accomplish something
→ beyond one’smeans
→ live beyond one’smeans
→ live within one’smeans
meant ["mEnt] past tense and past
participle ofmean
meant to be destined to exist or
happen
meant to be something destined or
fated to be something
meantime ["min taIm] the period
of time between two things; the
period of time between now and
when something is supposed to
happen
→ in the meantime
measles ["mi z@lz] n an easily
spread disease common in
chil-dren, characterized by fever and
red spots on the skin (Treated as
singular or plural, but not
counta-ble Often preceded by the.)
measure ["mE Z#] 1 n a unit in a
system that determines the
amount of something 2 n one of
the series of groups of musical
notes that makes up a piece of music 3 n the extent, amount, or
quantity of something 4 n a course of action; a plan 5 n a
law; a proposed law; a resolution
6 tv to determine the size, extent,
amount, degree, etc., of
some-thing 7 iv to be a certain size,
extent, amount, degree, etc
→ made to measure
measure something off 1 to
deter-mine the length of something
2 to distribute something in
measured portions
measure up (to someone or some-thing) to compare well to someone
or something
measurement ["mE Z# m@nt] 1 n.
a system of measuring (No
plu-ral.) 2 n the process of measur-ing (No plural.) 3 n the size,
length, weight, or amount of something, as determined by measuring
meat ["mit] 1 n the flesh of
ani-mals used as food (Plural only for
types and instances.) 2 n the
main idea or content of some-thing (Figurative on Q No plu-ral.)
meatloaf ["mit lof] 1 n a dish of
chopped meat shaped like a loaf of bread and baked (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n a unit
or loaf of Q
medal ["mEd l] n a small piece of
metal—usually flat and having a design or words on it—that is given to someone as an honor
medallion [m@ "dAl j@n] 1 n a large medal 2 n a large design or
decorative element; a decorative
medallion
353
Trang 9element resembling a large coin or
medal
meddle in something ["mEd l ] to
interfere in someone’s business; to
involve oneself in someone’s
busi-ness when one is not wanted
meddle with something ["mEd l ]
to play with and interfere with
something
media ["mid i @] 1 n the Latin
plu-ral ofmediumQ (Although it is a
Latin plural, mediacan be treated
as singular or plural in English
Not countable.) 2 n the Latin
plural ofmedium W (Often
treated as singular Not
counta-ble.) 3 n the Latin plural of
medium E (Often treated as
sin-gular Not countable.)
mediator ["mid i et #] n someone
who helps negotiate the settlement
of a disagreement
medical ["mEd @ k@l] adj of or
about medicine or the study and
practice of medicine (Adv:
med-ically [ Ik li].)
medicate ["mEd @ ket] tv to put
medicine on or in someone or
something; to treat someone or
something with medicine or
drugs
medication [mEd @ "ke S@n] 1 n.
the use or application of medicine
(No plural.) 2 n a kind of
medi-cine; a dose of medicine
medicine ["mEd @ s@n] 1 n the
sci-ence and study of preventing,
identifying, and curing diseases in
the body (No plural.) 2 n
some-thing that is used to treat a disease,
especially something that is taken
by the mouth or injected into the
body (Plural only for types and instances.)
→ adose of one’sown medicine
→ take one’smedicine
medieval [mid i "i v@l] adj of or
about the Middle Ages in Europe, from about a.d 500 to 1450 (Adv:
medievally.)
mediocre [mi di "o k#] adj only
average; halfway between good and bad; just acceptable
medium ["mid i @m] 1 n., irreg a
channel or pathway for sending information—such as newspapers, radio, television, print advertising, etc (The Latin plural is media, and
the English plural is mediums.)
2 n., irreg a substance in which
organisms such as bacteria can be grown and kept alive (Rarely used
in the singular Plural: media.)
3 n., irreg the [different kinds of]
materials used by an artist (The Latin plural is media, and the
English plural is mediums.) 4 n.
the middle size of an object for sale that comes in different sizes
(Plural: mediums.)
→ hit a happy medium
→ strike a happy medium
meek ["mik] adj letting others do
as they want; not protesting (Adv:
meekly Comp: meeker; sup: meek-est.)
meet ["mit] 1 tv., irreg to come
together with someone either by chance or on purpose; to encounter someone (Past tense and past participle: met.) 2 tv.,
irreg [for something] to touch
someone or something; to come into contact with someone or something 3 tv., irreg to be meddle in something
354
Trang 10introduced to someone 4 iv.,
irreg to come together; to join; to
connect; to make contact; to
touch
meet one’s death and meet one’s
end to die.
meet one’s end Go to meet one’s
death.
meet one’s match to encounter
one’s equal
meet someone halfway to
com-promise with someone
meeting ["mit IN] 1 n a group of
people who have come together
for a specific reason 2 n an
instance of people coming
together, perhaps by accident
→ call a meeting to order
a meeting of minds the
establish-ment of agreeestablish-ment; complete
agreement
megabyte ["mEg @ baIt] n a unit
consisting of about one million
bytes (The abbreviation is MB,
and the word can be shortened to
meg.)
mellow ["mEl o] 1 adj [of colors,
sounds, textures, or tastes that are]
soft, deep, relaxing, or muted
(Adv: mellowly Comp: mellower;
sup: mellowest.) 2 adj relaxed and
quiet (Informal Figurative on Q
Adv: mellowly Comp: mellower;
sup: mellowest.) 3 tv to cause
someone or a group to become W
4 iv to become W.
melody ["mEl @ di] n the series of
notes that make up the tune of a
song; a song; a tune
melon ["mEl @n] 1 n one of a
fam-ily of large round or oval fruits
with thick rinds and juicy, edible
insides 2 n the edible part of Q;
Q used as food (No plural
Num-ber is expressed with piece(s) or slice(s) of melon.)
melt ["mElt] 1 iv [for a solid] to
become liquid; to turn into a
liq-uid 2 tv to cause something solid
to become liquid; to cause some-thing solid to turn into a liquid
3 tv to cause something to
disap-pear or fade (Figurative on W.)
4 n an instance of turning into a
liquid as in Q
→ look as if butter wouldn’t melt
in one’smouth
melt down 1 [for something fro-zen] to melt 2 [for a nuclear
reactor] to become hot enough to melt through its container
melt in one’s mouth to taste very
good; [for food] to be very rich and satisfying
melt into something to melt and
change into a different physical state
melt something down to cause
something frozen to become a liq-uid; to cause something solid to melt
melt something into something to
cause something to change its physical state through melting
member ["mEm b#] n someone
who belongs to a group or an organization
membership ["mEm b# SIp] 1 n.
the connection between one per-son and an organization to which the person belongs (Plural only for types and instances.) 2 n all
of the members of a group or organization (No plural.)
membership
355