Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Suitable as a temporary or expedient substitute.
  • noun A temporary or expedient substitute for something else.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A shifty person; one given to shifts or expedients; a mischievous fellow.
  • noun That with which one makes shift; an expedient adopted to serve a present need or turn; a temporary substitute.
  • Of the nature of a temporary expedient.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient, with implication of inferiority to the more usual object or means.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A temporary, usually insubstantial, substitution for something else.
  • adjective Made to work or suffice; improvised; substituted.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency
  • adjective done or made using whatever is available

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From make +‎ shift.

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