to cobble up
- phrasal verb
- /ˈkɑbəl ʌp/
- Informal
:
improvisar
- They quickly cobbled up a makeshift shelter using old wood and tarps during the storm.
But eventually we we cobbled up the financing through separate investors and got that all done.
- But eventually we we cobbled up the financing through separate investors and got that all done.
Examples
-
The team cobbled up a rough prototype for the new device using spare parts available in the lab.
-
I drove slowly, for I meant to confront Otto Gloriana in his den at the Jo-Jean Motel and needed to cobble up a believable scenario to justify my appearing on his doorstep.
Fiction book (1992) -
But eventually we we cobbled up the financing through separate investors and got that all done.
-
But eventually we we cobbled up the financing through separate investors and got that all done.
-
Then people cobble up all sorts of excuses for doing it.
Academic text (1998) -
You can cobble up whole epics from them.
Fiction book (1995) -
Speaking of work, your thoughts have been and will be an immense help to me in cobbling up my own presentation to offer to the school district where I work.
Blog text (1) -
And then, because the arts confront the sensitive citizen with the difference between good artists, mediocre ones, and absolute duffers, and since there are always more of the last two than the first, the arts too must be politicized, so we cobble up critical systems to show that although we know what we mean by the quality of the environment, the idea of quality in aesthetic experience is little more than a paternalistic fiction designed to make life hard for black, female, and homosexual individuals.
Academic text (1994) -
After the meeting, we cobbled up a plan to address the project's challenges with limited resources.
Synonyms
988
2.8
To make something by joining parts, like a model, plan or team
983
2.7
To assemble and prepare equipment or objects so they are ready to use
239
2.7
Be the parts that form a whole
22
3.5
Make something quickly without much care or planning
21
5.3
To put things together quickly and roughly using what is available
16
5.2
Make something quickly and roughly from things you have
12
4.1
Put things like lights or a tent together quickly to use for a short time
3
6.0
Make something quickly without caring about details
1
5.1
To make a simple first version of an idea or plan as a quick drawing
1
6.7
To make something quickly and simply from things you have, like a shelter or meal
1
4.9
Make something quickly that will not last long
1
6.5
To gather small amounts of money, food, or a few people with difficulty to do something
To make something quickly and without care using what you have
To put something together quickly and without care
To get a small amount of something quickly with little money or time
Make something quickly and carelessly using what you have
To join parts quickly in a careless, temporary way
Antonyms
How Well
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
169
2.9
- Informal
- Informal
2
7.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
cobble + up
The verb 'cobble' already carries the meaning 'to improvise or assemble roughly', and the particle 'up' adds a completion/assembly sense; together they yield the predictable meaning 'make or put together quickly/roughly'. This verb+particle compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Cobble up comes from old shoemakers called cobblers, who often fixed shoes by quickly joining bits of leather and patches. That's why cobble up means 'to make something quickly and roughly'.