make way

make way idiom
  1. Allow room for passage, move aside, as in Please make way for the wheelchair. This expression was first recorded about 1200.
  2. Also, make way for. Leave room for a successor or substitute, as in It's time he retired and made way for some younger professor. [Mid-1700s]
  3. Progress, advance, as in Is this enterprise making way? [Late 1500s] For a synonym, see make headway.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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