make shift

Verb

 * 1)  To contrive; to invent a way of surmounting a difficulty.

Usage notes
Often followed by various prepositions, including with and without [an item], by [doing something], and for [the replaced item or action]. The older construction followed by an infinitive verb is now obsolete or historic.

Translations

 * Finnish:, ,
 * French:
 * German:
 * Italian: ,
 * Russian:, , довольствоваться (чем-либо), обходи́ться (без чего-либо)

Noun

 * 1) * 1818 March 3, "Philo Britannicus", "Sketches from Real Life", The White Dwarf, Number 17, page 270:
 * In a room not more than twelve feet square, were four miserable beds: the make shift, as mine host of the tape shop called it, was a singular contrivance; it was a long deal table, with a broomstick tied to each corner, rising about a foot from the surface of the table, with a cord communicating from the point of each, to form a kind of barrier for the bed, which was placed within them.
 * In a room not more than twelve feet square, were four miserable beds: the make shift, as mine host of the tape shop called it, was a singular contrivance; it was a long deal table, with a broomstick tied to each corner, rising about a foot from the surface of the table, with a cord communicating from the point of each, to form a kind of barrier for the bed, which was placed within them.