Stegreif

Etymology
From, from , from (“to ascend”, related with , whence modern ) +  (“rope, ring”, whence modern ). Cognate with.

The contemporary sense is from the idea of someone going to task “from the stirrup”, that is immediately after their arrival and without further arrangements. Speakers now often reanalyse the word as +, that is “something nearby that one grabs wherever one is standing”. Hence the common pronunciation (see below) and the frequent misspelling.

Noun

 * 1)  improvisation, impromptu
 * 2)  stirrup
 * 1)  stirrup
 * 1)  stirrup
 * 1)  stirrup