be on the make

1. To be increasing or advancing towards great financial or social success. Steve: "I hear John's company is really on the make these days!" Dave: "Yeah, they're really up-and-coming in the real estate market." We're on the make all right—we're in talks to sell our app for upwards of a million dollars! Once you own a few of these luxury hotels, then you'll really be on the make.

2. To be very eagerly seeking wealth, success, or improved social status, often at the expense of others. Ever since graduation, Thomas has been on the make, using anyone he knows or can exploit to further his career. Wow, so you were on the make this whole time? You never liked me, you just liked that I was the CEO's daughter. Guys who are on the make will cast you aside the minute you can't give them anything anymore.

3. To be seeking sexual partners or activity; to be making sexual advances or propositions. John turns into a real slime ball when he gets drunk and is out on the make. Let's get out of here—all the guys at the bar are on the make, and it's pretty annoying. Come on, do you actually think I'm pretty, or are you just on the make?

on the make, to be

Actively seeking personal gain of some kind (financial, social, or the like); also, specifically looking for sexual conquest. An American slang expression of the second half of the nineteenth century, it refers to financial gain in Sir James Barrie’s play, What Every Woman Knows (1918): “There are few more impressive sights in the world than a Scotsman on the make.” The even slangier use for sexual conquest became popular in the 1920s and 1930s.