maker
Pluralmakers
- 1A person or thing that makes or produces something.
Every piece in the shop carries a small stamp identifying its maker.
Several drone makers showed off their latest models at the trade fair.
Similarmanufacturer, producer, creator, builder
Note
In compounds the first half says what is made, and the result can name a producer or a machine: drone makers build drones, while an ice cream maker is a kitchen appliance. With a possessive it points back to whoever made one particular object, as in a carving and its maker.
- 2God, as the creator of all things.
The congregation sang a hymn of thanks to the Maker of all things.
The old sailor joked that he wasn't ready to meet his Maker just yet.
Note
As a name for God it is usually capitalized and preceded by the, and it can sit right beside God itself: Isaac Watts in 1707 writes of the hour when God the mighty Maker died. Written in lowercase and without the article, it reads as an ordinary producer of things again, so the capital carries the meaning.
- 3A person who signs a promissory note and so becomes responsible for paying it.
The holder of the note demanded payment from the maker when the loan fell due.
As the maker, she was primarily liable for the full amount stated on the note.
Note
Commercial law gives each party to a note its own name: the maker signs and promises to pay, the payee is the one promised the money, and the holder is whoever holds it and can demand payment. The maker is primarily liable, while someone who endorses the note answers only if the maker fails to pay. On a check or draft the signer is called the drawer instead.
Less common meaning
- 4A poet, a person who writes poetry.
The anthology gathers poems by every maker of note from the last two centuries.
It is refreshing to read how makers find great allies in the past to help them tackle the present. It helps us to see that literature is a conversation across boundaries of nation, century and language.
2000, Alasdair Gray, The Book of PrefacesNote
Behind it is the poet as a craftsman of words, and around 1521 John Skelton grumbles in Speke Parott that every mad meddler must now be a maker. The word is archaic, though Scots has its twin, makar, and Alasdair Gray still calls poets makers in The Book of Prefaces (2000). Used today, it sounds deliberately literary.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English maker, makere, equivalent to make + -er. Compare Scots makar, Saterland Frisian Moaker, West Frisian makker, Dutch maker, German Macher, Danish mager and Swedish makare; it is a doublet of makar.