quick-and-dirty
See also: quick and dirty
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
The Oxford English Dictionary shows the first usage of this phrase in 1896 in the Boston Globe to describe a place to eat. The first use meaning "slipshod" was from 1939 in the gun-slinging, American Western fiction paperback, "Bounty Guns" by Luke Short.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Adjective
quick-and-dirty (comparative more quick-and-dirty, superlative most quick-and-dirty)
- (idiomatic) Done or constructed in a hasty, approximate, temporarily adequate manner, but not exact, fully formed, or reliable for a long period of time.
- I can do a quick-and-dirty market analysis in time for the meeting tomorrow.
Synonyms
Translations
hasty, approximate, temporarily adequate
|
Noun
quick-and-dirty (plural quick-and-dirties)
- (US, slang) An inexpensive, inelegant eatery; a greasy spoon.
- (idiomatic) A quick, temporary fix, estimate, or the like.
- The car broke down but we managed to do a quick-and-dirty and were back on the road in fifteen minutes.
See also
References
- “quick-and-dirty”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.