Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Constructed hastily and with flimsy materials.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Built hastily and of bad materials.
- adjective Developed in an unsystematic or inexpert manner; built haphazardly; -- used of objects, organizations, plans, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Built
cheaply andshoddily .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of inferior workmanship and materials
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Anyway, this isn't like spraying paint on a bridge, it's like quickly adding an extra, slightly jerry-built span – which I think would be witty, if less deliverable by aerosol.
Vandalising an old master is bad, but not quite as evil as queue-jumping | David Mitchell 2011
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Like one of the postwar megastructures Hatherley cherishes, it may be a bit jerry-built in places, but it is bold and original, and it may change how you see British cities.
A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley – review Andy Beckett 2010
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If he is not our "worst president," as Donald Trump would have it, his sweeping domestic initiatives—especially his stimulus package and health-care reform—were so jerry-built and high-handed that they generated a virtual revolution in America's normally subdued middle class.
Obama's Unspoken Re-Election Edge Shelby Steele 2011
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It was in another jerry-built craft, the 51-foot, three-mast Son of Town Hall, that Mr. Neutrino succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, casting off from Newfoundland with his wife, two companions and three dogs.
Unmoored on Land, an Adventurer at Sea Stephen Miller 2011
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It's a vast improvement over the jerry-built box speakers through which the New World Symphony used to pipe its concerts to the Lincoln Road Mall.
Gehry Leaves the Risks to the Kids Julie V. Iovine 2011
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Deep in a disused Amtrak tunnel beneath the west side of Manhattan, homeless men and women inhabited jerry-built huts, living off scraps and siphoning electricity to cook and brighten the way.
The Subterranean Homelessness Blues Nicolas Rapold 2011
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Deep in a disused Amtrak tunnel beneath the west side of Manhattan, homeless men and women inhabited jerry-built huts, living off scraps and siphoning electricity to cook and brighten the way.
The Subterranean Homelessness Blues Nicolas Rapold 2011
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Although many buildings are no longer made of wood which is too expensive and hard to maintain, Japanese cities still look a little jerry-built, rather like movie sets, as though in anticipation of impermanence—less like Manhattan, more like Los Angeles.
Japan's Shattered Mirror Ian Buruma 2011
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The early, jerry-built propeller planes transformed into air-cushioned jetliners, then powerful jumbo jets.
Allison Silver: '20th Century Travel': Faster, Better, Democratized (PHOTOS, POLL) 2010
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The jerry-built explosive device in the Times Square plot, while dangerous, was described by multiple law enforcement officials and outside experts as of unsophisticated, even amateurish design.
ecrivaine33 commented on the word jerry-built
I never heard this phrase before until today when I came across it in an article in which Middle East historian David Fromkin said he sees "a breakup of the jerry-built nation," when referring to Iraq's bleak future.
January 22, 2007
jrome commented on the word jerry-built
I read that too! I meant to look it up on the spot, but didn't have a dictionary handy. Where I grew up, CNY, folks always said "jerry-rigged." I think it means the same thing.
January 23, 2007
asativum commented on the word jerry-built
Wikipedia, citing a couple of sources, says its origin are different than jury-rigged, which it says the OED traces to 1788.
The alt.usage.english FAQ has an interesting, if ultimately ambiguous, discussion of the two phrases.
June 28, 2008