Make stick
Make effective or permanent, as in They tried to appeal but our lawyers made the verdict stick. This idiom uses stick in the sense of “adhere.” [ First half of 1900s ]
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- Make the bed
Rearrange a bed and its coverings to its condition before it was slept in. For example, Mom taught us all to make the bed before we got dressed . Also see make one’s bed and lie in it
- Make the best of it
Also, make the best of a bad bargain. Adapt as well as possible to a bad situation, bad luck, or similar circumstances, as in Jeff ended up in a cabin without his friends, but decided to make the best of it, or She got the worst possible position, but Dad told her to make the […]
- Make the cheese more binding
verb phrase To make things more difficult or complicated; clutter or snarl the matter: And just to make the cheese more binding, they’re also sold through mail order [1960s+; a humorous pun based on the fact that cheese is thought to be binding, ”constipating,” and certain elements of a situation are also binding, ”constraining”]
- Make the cut
verb phrase To survive an elimination when a team or group is being chosen: those mediocre actresses even made the cut (1980s+ fr sports)
- Make the sparks fly
Start a fight or argument, as in If Mary finds out he went to the races without her, that will make the sparks fly. In this idiom, the small particles of a fire called sparks are transferred to an inflammatory situation. [ Early 1900s ]