Source : WordNet®

kludge
     n : a badly assembled collection of parts hastily assembled to
         serve some particular purpose (often used to refer to
         computing systems or software that has been badly put
         together)

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

kludge
     
         /kluhj/ (From the old Scots "kludgie" meaning an
        outside toilet) A Scottish engineering term for anything added
        in an ad hoc (and possibly unhygenic!) manner.  At some point
        during the Second World War, Scottish engineers met Americans
        and the meaning, spelling and pronunciation of kludge became
        confused with that of "{kluge}".
     
        The spelling "kludge" was apparently popularised by the
        "Datamation" cited below which defined it as "An ill-assorted
        collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing
        whole."
     
        The result of this tangled history is a mess; in 1993, many
        (perhaps even most) hackers pronounce the word /klooj/ but
        spell it "kludge" (compare the pronunciation drift of {mung}).
        Some observers consider this appropriate in view of its
        meaning.
     
        ["How to Design a Kludge", Jackson Granholme, Datamation,
        February 1962, pp. 30-31].
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1998-12-09)