catch-as-catch-can

adjective

1. Also catch-can. taking advantage of any opportunity; using any method that can be applied: a catch-as-catch-can life, as an itinerant handyman.

adverb

2. without specific plan or order: They lived catch-as-catch-can.

noun

3. a style of wrestling in which the contestants are permitted to trip, tackle, and use holds below the waist.Compare Greco-Roman(def 3).

noun

1. a style of wrestling in which trips, holds below the waist, etc, are allowed

adjective, adverb

2. mainly US and Canadian using any method or opportunity that comes to hand

A phrase that describes a situation in which people must improvise or do what they can with limited means: “We don’t have enough textbooks for all of the students, so it’ll be catch-as-catch-can.”