make up1
Be reconciled after a quarrel: let’s kiss and make up...
- As Paul and Heather prepare to do battle, another celebrity is apparently kissing and making up.
- The wealthy couple were later seen having a lover's tiff before kissing and making up on the dance floor.
- They argue almost constantly, only stopping occasionally to hug and kiss and pretend to make up.
Synonyms
be friends again, bury the hatchet, declare a truce, make peace, forgive and forget, shake hands, become reconciled, settle one's differences, mend fences, call it quits
See parent entry: make
make-up2
/ˈmeɪkʌp
/noun [mass noun]
1Cosmetics such as lipstick or powder applied to the face, used to enhance or alter the appearance: she came downstairs, her face still white under her heavy make-up [with modifier]: stage make-up [as modifier]: chief make-up artist...
- Stage make-up is necessarily heavy, in order to be seen, and seen as natural, by the audience.
- Apply your usual foundation make-up or powder to cover any imperfections and even out your skin tone.
- Just before going on stage, the make-up lady had dabbed powder on my face.
Synonyms
cosmetics, greasepaint;
foundation, pancake, panstick, powder, loose powder, pressed powder, blusher, rouge, concealer;
mascara, eye make-up, eyeliner, eyeshadow, eyebrow pencil, kohl;
lipstick, lip gloss, lip pencil, nail varnish/polish;
blackface, whiteface
informal paint, warpaint, face paint, slap
rare maquillage
2The composition or constitution of something: ozone damages the cellular make-up of plants and trees...
- The important and terrifying thing is what's happening inside the US, to the constitution and make-up of the country.
- Geochemistry involves studying the chemical make-up of rocks, the chemistry of water or any geological material.
- To the extent that the physical make-up of organisms provides heritable variation, it becomes a malleable clay that can be sculpted by selection.
Synonyms
composition, constitution, configuration, form, arrangement, format, structure, construction, formation, assembly, organization, fabric, framework
2.1The combination of qualities that form a person’s temperament: a curiously unexpected timidity in his make-up...
- Philosophy Like science is heavily influenced by the psychological make-up of the person doing the thinking.
- The emotional and psychological make-up of a young person can often be forgotten in the rush for top points.
- Of equal importance in experiential terms, however, was the psychological make-up of individuals as well as communities and cultures.
Synonyms
character, nature, temperament, temper, personality, disposition, constitution, mentality, persona, psyche, psychology, make, stamp, mould, cast/turn of mind
informal kidney, what makes someone tick
archaic humour, grain
3 Printing The arrangement of text, illustrations, etc. on a printed page: page make-up...
- Seamus started his own career as an apprentice compositor, during the days when all page make-up was in hot metal.
- Then there was the excitement of starting to do our own page make-up, having bought a Compugraphic typesetting machine.
4 [count noun] North American A supplementary test or assignment given to a student who missed or failed the original one: I would have flunked the course but she let me write a make-up...
- A busy teacher of thirty students who allows three make-ups per student, however, is agreeing to ninety make-ups a year!
- Some teachers save one Saturday a month for make-ups, and all lessons for the month may be made up only on that day.
- Another teacher may say, ‘I have a firm makeup policy and my students all understand it, and I have no problems with make-ups.’
