on the make

From make (“companion, spouse, mate”), related to match (“counterpart, partner”).

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on the make

1. (informal) Actively seeking a romantic encounter or relationship.
   • 1973 November 26, T. E. Kalem, “The Theatre: Savage Mating Dance”, in Time‎:

     Harry (Matthew Cowles) and Tim (Timothy Meyers) are an inseparable pair of macho punks always on the make for an easy sexual score.

2. (informal, by extension) Actively seeking an opportunity for self-advancement; eager to ingratiate oneself to others in order to secure some advantage.
   • 1920, Upton Sinclair, chapter 1, in 100%: The Story of a Patriot:

     In a city where everybody was "hustling," everybody, as they phrased it, "on the make," why should anyone take a second glance at Peter Gudge?

   • 1991, Douglas Coupland, “It Can't Last”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 36:

     She said that anyone under the age of thirty living in a resort community was on the make somehow: “pimping, dealing, hooking, detoxing, escaping, scamming, or what have you.”

• put the make on