The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

makeshift \make"shift`\ (m[=a]k"sh[i^]ft`), n.
   That with which one makes shift; a temporary expedient, with
   implication of inferiority to the more usual object or means.
   --James Mill.
   [1913 Webster +PJC]

         I am not a model clergyman, only a decent makeshift.
                                                  --G. Eliot.
   [1913 Webster] makeup

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

makeshift
    adj 1: done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the
           river on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury-
           rigged fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift
           hammer" [syn: improvised, jury-rigged, makeshift]
    n 1: something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency
         [syn: makeshift, stopgap, make-do]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

206 Moby Thesaurus words for "makeshift":
   action, ad hoc, ad hoc measure, ad lib, ad libitum, ad-lib,
   ad-libbing, adulterated, agent, alternate, alternative, analogy,
   answer, arrangement, artifice, backup, band-aid, blemished,
   caught napping, caught off balance, caught short, change,
   changeling, comparison, contrivance, copy, counterfeit,
   countermove, coup, course of action, damaged, defective, deficient,
   demarche, deputy, dernier ressort, device, dodge, double, dummy,
   effort, emergency, equal, equivalent, erroneous, ersatz, exchange,
   expediency, expedient, extemporaneous, extemporaneousness,
   extemporariness, extemporary, extempore, extemporization,
   extemporized, fake, fallible, faulty, fill-in, found wanting,
   ghost, ghostwriter, gimmick, haphazard, hasty, imitation, immature,
   impaired, imperfect, imprecise, impromptu, improvisation,
   improvisational, improvisatorial, improvise, improvised,
   improvision, improviso, impure, inaccurate, inadequate, incomplete,
   inexact, jury-rig, jury-rigged, jury-rigged expedient, lacking,
   last expedient, last resort, last shift, locum tenens, makeshifty,
   maneuver, means, measure, mediocre, metaphor, metonymy, mixed,
   mock, move, next best thing, not perfect, off, off-the-cuff,
   offhand, partial, patchy, personnel, phony, pinch, pinch hitter,
   pis aller, playing by ear, precipitate, pro tempore, provisional,
   proxy, recourse, refuge, relief, replacement, representative,
   reserve, reserves, resort, resource, ringer, rough-and-ready,
   second string, secondary, shake-up, shift, short, sign, sketchy,
   slapdash, snap, solution, spare, spares, stand-in, step, stopgap,
   stratagem, stroke, stroke of policy, sub, substituent, substitute,
   substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surprised,
   surrogate, symbol, synecdoche, tactic, taken aback,
   taken by surprise, taken unawares, temporary,
   temporary arrangement, temporary expedient, temporary measure,
   tentative, third string, token, trick, tripped up, trump,
   unarranged, unbegun, unconcocted, uncontrived, undeliberated,
   understudy, undeveloped, undevised, uneven, unfinished, unhatched,
   unmade, unmanufactured, unorganized, unperfected, unplanned,
   unpremeditated, unprepared, unprimed, unready, unrehearsed,
   unsound, unstudied, unthorough, utility, utility player, vicar,
   vicarious, vice-president, vice-regent, wanting,
   working hypothesis, working proposition