a software or hardware configuration that, while inelegant, inefficient, clumsy, or patched together, succeeds in solving a specific problem or performing a particular task.
Also, kluge.
Origin
1960-65; expressive coinage
Word Origin and History for kluges
kludge
1962, noun and verb, U.S. slang, fanciful coinage by U.S. author Jackson W. Granholm (b.1921). Related: Kludgy.
Slang definitions & phrases for kluges
kludge
noun
Aterm of endearment for a favorite computer, esp a somewhat defective one
A computer program that has been revised and tinkered with so much that it will never work
A ludicrous assortment of incompatible and unworkable components: You see this mechanical kluge (contraption), stop, think, and decide to do something
[1962+ Computer; apparently fr German klug, ''clever,'' with an ironic reverse twist]