[kach-uh
z-kach-kan] 
| 1. | Also, catch-can. taking advantage of any opportunity; using any method that can be applied: a catch-as-catch-can life, as an itinerant handyman. |
| 2. | without specific plan or order: They lived catch-as-catch-can. |
| 3. | a style of wrestling in which the contestants are permitted to trip, tackle, and use holds below the waist. Compare Greco-Roman (def. 3). |
A phrase that describes a situation in which people must improvise or do what they can with limited means: “We don't have enough textbooks for all of the students, so it'll be catch-as-catch-can.”
catch as catch can
By whatever means or in any way possible, as in There was no formal language program; one simply learned Spanish catch as catch can. This term, in slightly varying versions but with the same meaning, dates from the late 1300s.