Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Makeshift \Make"shift`\, n.
   That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient.
   --James Mill.

         I am not a model clergyman, only a decent makeshift.
                                                  --G. Eliot.

Source : WordNet®

makeshift
     adj : done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the river
           on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury-rigged
           fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift hammer"
           [syn: {improvised}, {jury-rigged}]
     n : something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency
         [syn: {stopgap}]