meddle and make

meddle or make

meddle and make

1. (obsolete) To intrude oneself into another person's concerns. [16th to 19th c.]
   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act III, Scene 3,

     […] for such kind of men, the less you meddle or make with them, why the more is for your honesty.

   • 1681, Robert Knox, An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon, London: Richard Chiswell, Part III, Chapter 7, p. 91,

     For it is accounted a disgrace for the man to meddle or make with those affairs, that properly do belong unto the Woman.

   • 1756, anonymous, Emily; or, The History of a Natural Daughter, London: F. Noble & J. Noble, Volume I, Book III, p. 205,

     Hold your foolish Tongue, Mr. Metal, said she, and get you to-bed; have’nt I plague enough with this audacious Slut, do you think, without your meddling and making?

   • 1840, Ellen Pickering, The Quiet Husband, London: T.&.W. Boone, Volume I, Chapter 5, p. 162,

     She is the most unquiet person I know; cannot be still—meddles and makes about every thing and every body.

   • 1880, William Dean Howells, The Undiscovered Country, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 27, p. 399,

     “Nay, I must not meddle or make in this business,” said the Shaker.

     “You did meddle and make in it once,” retorted Ford, unresentfully but inflexibly […]

The phrase meddle and make is generally restricted to positive, declarative contexts while meddle or make (and meddle nor make) are used in negative or non-declarative contexts. The difference is illustrated in the 1880 citation (Howells) above.