make strange

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make strange (third-person singular simple present makes strange, present participle making strange, simple past and past participle made strange)

1. (idiomatic, especially of small children) To behave in a shy, uncommunicative, resistant manner when encountering an unfamiliar person or situation.
   • 2009, Martha Long, Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed (2015 Seven Stories Press edition), →ISBN, (Google preview):

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

   • 2014, Florence Koenderink, Children Everywhere, →ISBN, p. 156 (Google preview):

     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.

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

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