IMPROVISE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Improvise

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/ˈɪmprəvˌaɪz/ /ˌɪmprəvˈaɪz/ Listen

verb

Improvise v. t. (past & past part. improvised; pres. part. improvising)

To compose, recite, or sing extemporaneously, especially in verse; to extemporize; also, to play upon an instrument, or to act, extemporaneously.

To bring about, arrange, do, or make, immediately or on short notice, without previous preparation and with no known precedent as a guide. "Charles attempted to improvise a peace."

To invent, or provide, offhand, or on the spur of the moment; as, he improvised a hammer out of a stone.

Improvise v. i. To produce or render extemporaneous compositions, especially in verse or in music, without previous preparation; hence, to do anything offhand.

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Etymology of 'Improvise'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Improvise" Quotes from Famous Books

... Mr. Blaine enlightened me. We sat together at table and suddenly he turned and said: "How are you getting on with your bill?" And my reply being rather halting, he continued, "You won't get a vote in either House," and he proceeded very humorously to improvise the average member's argument against it as a dangerous power, a perquisite to the great newspapers and an imposition upon the little ones. To my mind this was something more than the post-prandial levity it was meant ...

— Marse Henry, Complete - An Autobiography • Henry Watterson

... oneself; and to forget oneself fully one must be transported into another, put himself in the place of another, take his mask and play his part. Hence the liveliest of diversions is the comedy in which one is an actor. It is that of children who, as authors, actors and audience, improvise and perform small scenes. It is that of a people whose political regime excludes exacting manly tasks (soucis virile) and who sport with life just like children. At Venice, in the eighteenth century, the carnival lasts six months; in France, ...

— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6) - The Ancient Regime • Hippolyte A. Taine

... Badge: A scout must know: The fireman's lift. How to drag an insensible man with ropes. How to improvise a stretcher. How to fling a life-line. The position of main arteries. How to stop bleeding from vein or artery, internal or external. How to improvise splints and to diagnose and bind fractured limb. The Schafer method of artificial respiration. How to deal with choking, burning, poison, grit in ...

— Outdoor Sports and Games • Claude H. Miller

... might not have guessed for himself, and, indeed, she had planned to find such an opportunity, if she could; but this was getting to be altogether too much of one, she felt. As time passed, she was like an actor who must improvise to keep the audience from perceiving that his fellow-players have missed their cues; but her anxiety was not betrayed to the still listener; she had ...

— Alice Adams • Booth Tarkington

... 1862 was situated in the gallery, and had three barrels, each of ten tunes, so that thirty tunes was the limit. Mr. Seeley, who owned the Australian House, which stood until lately at the north end of the Causeway, was an attendant at the church, and being an organ-builder undertook to improvise a keyboard attachment for this barrel organ. This keyboard was used on Sunday mornings and on special occasions by Mrs. Atwood (Mrs. T. Sidney Wilson of St. Charles Street.) At evening services the music was produced by the barrels, worked by a handle, and the writer on ...

— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett

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