Workers at the plant speak of jerry-built equipment and grave technical short-comings...
`The place is a bit jerry-built. Last night the rain leaked through the roof and set off the smoke detectors.'
English dictionary. 2008.
Jerry-built — Jer ry built , a. 1. Built hastily and of bad materials; as, jerry built houses. Syn: slipshod, ramshackle, flimsy. [1913 Webster] 2. Developed in an unsystematic or inexpert manner; built haphazardly; used of objects, organizations, plans, etc.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
jerry-built — 1869, in which jerry has a sense of bad, defective, probably a pejorative use of the male nickname Jerry (a popular form of Jeremy; Cf. Jerry sneak, mid 19c., sneaking fellow, a hen pecked husband [OED]). Or from or influenced by nautical slang… … Etymology dictionary
jerry-built — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ badly or hastily built. DERIVATIVES jerry builder noun. ORIGIN sometimes said to be from the name of a firm of builders in Liverpool, or to allude to the walls of Jericho, which fell down at the sound of Joshua s trumpets (Book of… … English terms dictionary
jerry-built — [jer′ē bilt΄] adj. [< JERRY (as an old generalized epithet, esp. of belittlement: cf. JACK), prob. reinforced by JURY2] built poorly, of cheap materials … English World dictionary
jerry-built — [adj] flimsy cheap, defective, insubstantial, jerry rigged, junky, makeshift, ramshackle, rickety, shoddy, slipshod, unsound, unsubstantial; concept 267 … New thesaurus
jerry-built — jerry ,built adjective built very quickly and with as little money as possible, and therefore not of good quality … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
jerry-built — {adj.} 1. Built poorly or carelessly of cheap materials; easily broken. * /That jerry built cabin will blow apart in a strong wind./ 2. Done without careful preparation or thought; planned too quickly. * /When the regular television program didn… … Dictionary of American idioms
jerry-built — {adj.} 1. Built poorly or carelessly of cheap materials; easily broken. * /That jerry built cabin will blow apart in a strong wind./ 2. Done without careful preparation or thought; planned too quickly. * /When the regular television program didn… … Dictionary of American idioms
jerry-built — adj 1. Built poorly or carelessly of cheap materials; easily broken. That jerry built cabin will blow apart in a strong wind. 2. Done without careful preparation or thought; planned too quickly. When the regular television program didn t come on … Словарь американских идиом
jerry-built — mod. carelessly and awkwardly built. □ This is an old, jerry built house, but we love it. □ The lawyer’s case was jerry built, but the jury bought it anyway … Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions
