jerry-builtadj.
/ˈdʒɛrɪbɪlt/, U.S. /ˈdʒɛriˌbɪlt/ Built unsubstantially of bad materials; built to sell but not to last. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > [adjective] > built > rapidly or with poor materials
jerry-built1869
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adjective] > unskilled in art or craft > unskilfully made or done > built
jerry-built1869
jerry1882
1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Jerry-built, slightly, or unsubstantially built.
1875 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera V. 263 Rows of jerry-built cottages are creeping up.
1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impr. 316 It would soon be overspread by vulgar jerry-built villas.
1901 Daily Chron. 13 Aug. 3/2 In an age of jerry-built books it is refreshing to come across a volume that has taken forty years to compile.
1903 Daily Chron. 20 Feb. 3/2 Fiction, he said, was now jerry-built.
1933 J. Baillie And Life Everlasting (1934) i. 15 That great cataclysm undoubtedly came as a rude shock to many jerry-built philosophies of life.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1869