A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

make a fortune • make one’s fortune
make a fortune —make a lot of money: I exploited these
unhappy natives to make a fortune for myself. We colonialists
thought only of private gain.
make one’s fortune —attain a comfortable position in life:
Exiled to Canada where he made his fortune, he lost touch
with his three sisters. Cf.: seek one’s fortune — try to attain per-
sonal and financial success: Anderson made the decision to go
West and seek his fortune in California.
make a joke about something • make a joke of
something
make a joke about something —tell ridiculous things about
smth. so as to cause fun: Adam is able to make good jokes
about Cambridge.
make a joke of something —
1
. turn smth. into a joke: “Oh,
it’s you, Mr. Wormold. I was just thinking of you. Talk of the
devil,” he said, making a joke of it. 2. treat smth. lightly or
as a joke: She could have panicked, but instead she made a
joke of the whole thing.
make a kill • make a killing
make a kill —(of an animal) perform an act of killing: Male
lions are rather reticent about expending their energy in
hunting — more than three-quarters of kills are made by
lionesses.
make a killing —(coll.) win or earn suddenly a large sum of
money; make an enormous profit : The company made a
killing from the sale of its subsidiary.
make a life for oneself • make a living for
oneself
make a life for oneself —construct a good, decent life for one-
self (having a job, home, etc.): I don’t feel an affinity to any
one place and am willing to move to almost anywhere in order
to make a life for myself.
make a living for oneself —earn enough to support oneself:
It was a time when a man with sufficient talent and extraor-
dinary energy could reasonably hope to make a living for him-
self as a freelance writer.
See also: get a life / get life.