Meanings
present singular third person makes one · participle present making one · participle past made one · past made one
- archaicTo take part in, to be present at (a group, social event, etc.; later especially a criminal undertaking).First known use 16th c.
He for many years made one at the table of what was at this time called the Royal Academy Club […].
1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 1424 more examples
I accompany the afflicted mourners back to their uncomfortable mansion; and make one in the general concert of unavailing woe […].
1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter DV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLCMr. Steele was prevailed on to stay and make one at a cricket match with some British gentlemen and their footmen, who were at that time at Rome.
1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 206I had scarcely been once at it, my whole time being given up to my new favourite, Charlotte, in attending her to masquerades, theatres, the Pantheon, and every other public place that was open, to no one of which would she ever consent to go unless I made one […] .
1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 292I don't mind going if a lunch is provided,’ observed the gentleman […]. ‘But I must be fed, if I make one.’
1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC
Cite this entry
make one. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20one
“make one.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20one. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “make one,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/make%20one.
Source: make one on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.