make the best of one's way

English

Verb

make the best of one's way (third-person singular simple present makes the best of one's way, present participle making the best of one's way, simple past and past participle made the best of one's way)

1. (archaic, idiomatic) To go by the best possible route.
   • 1829, John Frederick Dennett, The Voyages and Travels of Captains Parry, Franklin, Ross, and Mr. Belzoni:

     […] you, in this case, are to abandon all thoughts of returning by the northern passage, and are to make the best of your way home-ward, by Cape Horn.

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     Having uttered this soliloquy, and looked after Job till he was to be seen no more, Mr. Weller made the best of his way to his master’s bedroom.

   • 1838, Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym/Chapter 23:

     Thoroughly exhausted by our exertions, we made the best of our way back to the platform, and throwing ourselves upon the bed of leaves, slept sweetly and soundly for some hours.