Makepeace

Alternative forms

• make-peace

Origin

From en + make + peace.

Full definition of makepeace

Noun

1. (rare) A peacemaker; one who reconciles persons at variance with one another; a composer of strife; an adjuster of differences.
• c. 1595, Richard II, To be a make-peace shall become my age
  Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage.
2. (obsolete) A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for corporal punishment.
• 1657, Adam in Eden: Or, Natures ParadiÅ¿e Chapter CCCXX, The civill uÅ¿es whereunto the Birch-tree Å¿erveth are many, as for the puniÅ¿hment of Children both at home and at School, for it hath an admirable influence upon them, to quiet them when they are out of Order, and therefore Å¿ome call it Make-peace: The old Roman MagiÅ¿irates had it born in bundles before them, as an EnÅ¿igne, and InÅ¿trument of JuÅ¿tice to be executed upon petty Offenders.

Synonyms

• (stick, rod or bundle of twigs) birch, switch