Definition of "jerry-build" []

• To build shoddily, flimsily, and cheaply. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Why go out risking unforeseeable and probably adverse results, and jerry-build elsewhere in the governmental system for this purpose?"
• "He is aware that at such points, for example, as the reference to authorities in the chapter on the biological problem, and to books in the educational chapter, the lacunar quality of his reading and knowledge is only too evident; to fill in and complete his design -- notably in the fourth paper -- he has had quite frankly to jerry-build here and there."
• "He is aware that at such points, for example, as the reference to authorities in the chapter on the biological problem, and to books in the educational chapter, the lacunar quality of his reading and knowledge is only too evident; to fill in and complete his design — notably in the fourth paper — he has had quite frankly to jerry-build here and there."