put the make on

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

put the make on

Where it comes from

From make (“love interest, spouse, mate”).

verb puts the make on · putting the make on · put the make on · put the moves on

informal, transitive To pursue with romantic interest, especially in an aggressive, sexually suggestive manner. 1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure I met a lesbian friend of Liz's, Dawn, who promptly put the make on me & I figured it's about time I tried it.
Similar: flirt with, hit on, hustle

Translations

Every language

verb pursue with romantic interest

Español	insinuarse
中文	騷擾追求 /骚扰追求 sāorǎo zhuīqiú, 色情糾纏 /色情纠缠 sèqíng jiūchán
Français	draguer, faire des avances

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"put the make on." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/put%20the%20make%20on. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

put the make on. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/put%20the%20make%20on

Chicago

"put the make on." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/put%20the%20make%20on.

BibTeX

@misc{put_the_make_on_2026,
  title = {put the make on},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/put%20the%20make%20on},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}