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jerry-built

 - 5 dictionary results

jer⋅ry-built

  [jer-ee-bilt]
Use jerry-built in a Sentence
–adjective
1. built cheaply and flimsily.
2. contrived or developed in a haphazard, unsubstantial fashion, as a project or organization.
Origin:
1865–70; jerry (as in jerry-build ) + built

Synonyms:
1. ramshackle, rickety, shoddy, slipshod.

jer⋅ry-build

  [jer-ee-bild]
–verb (used with object), -built, -build⋅ing.
to build cheaply and flimsily.
Origin:
1880–85; back formation from jerry-builder. See jerry 2 , build

Related forms:
jerry-builder, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To jerry-built
jer·ry-build   (jěr'ē-bĭld')   
tr.v.   jer·ry-built (-bĭlt'), jer·ry-build·ing, jer·ry-builds
To build shoddily, flimsily, and cheaply.

[From dialectal jerry, defective, perhaps from the name Jerry.]
jer'ry-build'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
jerry-built

  1. mod.
    carelessly and awkwardly built. : The lawyer's case was jerry-built, but the jury bought it anyway.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

jerry-built 
1869, Eng. dial. jerry "bad, defective," a pejorative use of the male nickname Jerry (a popular form of Jeremy), or from naut. slang jury "temporary," which came to be used of all sorts of makeshift and inferior objects (see jury (adj.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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