makeshift

• make-shift, make shift

1680s. From the verb form make shift.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft/

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makeshift (plural makeshifts)

1. A temporary (usually insubstantial) substitution.
   • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVII, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 316:

     And I am not a model clergyman—only a decent makeshift.

   • 1923, Benjamin C. Marsh, “For the Community to Do”, in The World tomorrow, volume 6:

     Hoboism cannot be cured or prevented by makeshifts or by local measures and efforts, although community interest naturally is vital in dealing with a problem that comes home to every community.

makeshift (comparative more makeshift, superlative most makeshift)

1. Made to work or suffice; improvised; substituted.

   They used the ledge and a few branches for a makeshift shelter.

   • 2012 May 26, Phil McNulty, “Norway 0-1 England”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Hodgson was able to introduce Arsenal teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for his debut late on as this makeshift England line-up closed out a victory that was solid for the most part without ever threatening to be spectacular.

1560s. From make +‎ shift.

makeshift (plural makeshifts)

1. (obsolete) A rogue; a shifty person.
   • 1592, Gabriel Harvey, “The First Letter”, in Four Letters and Certain Sonnets‎, new edition, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, published 1814, A Due Commendation of the Quipping Author, page 2:

     Greene the coneycatcher, of this dream the author, / For his dainty devise deserveth the halter. / A rakehell, a makeshift, a scribbling fool; / A famous bayard in city and school: / Now sick as a dog, and ever brain-sick, / Where such a raving and desperate Dick?

• See also Thesaurus:villain

• make shift

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “makeshift”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 19 June 2018.