make strange

present singular third person makes strange · participle present making strange · participle past made strange · past made strange

1. especiallyidiomaticTo behave in a shy, uncommunicative, resistant manner when encountering an unfamiliar person or situation.

   Come to Granny. You must surely be making strange, with all these foreign faces huffing and puffing around you, you poor little precious diddledums.

   2009, Martha Long, Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed (2015 Seven Stories Press edition), (Google preview)

   2 more examples

   At a certain age, usually around 8 or 9 months, varying from child to child, most (but not all) children start making strange, meaning they become shy or even hysterical when held or touched by people they do not know well.

   2014, Florence Koenderink, Children Everywhere, →ISBN, page 156

   When children present with separation anxieties, they visibly ‘make strange’ or become distressed when separated from their parents or caregivers.

   2015, Colman Noctor, Cop On: What It Is and Why Your Child Needs It to Survive and Thrive in Today’s World, →ISBN