wing it

Idioms  

1. Improvise, as in The interviewer had not read the author's book; he was just winging it. This expression comes from the theater, where it alludes to an actor studying his part in the wings (the areas to either side of the stage) because he has been suddenly called on to replace another. First recorded in 1885, it eventually was extended to other kinds of improvisation based on unpreparedness.

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Example Sentences

Just as he improvised his way through episodes of “The Apprentice,” the NBC reality show that ran from 2004 to 2017 and jump-started his pivot into politics, Trump has said he prefers to wing it when it comes to sitting for depositions or appearing as a witness.

From Washington Post

“I think there’s an emerging understanding that Israel can no longer wing it as a country without the constitutional foundations for a democratic society,” said Scheindlin, who has seen an increase in calls for the country to adopt its first formal constitution.

From Washington Post

After spending far more time researching gnudi than I had any intention of spending actually making it, I decided to stride down the middle and pretty much wing it.

From Salon

Else you can wing it with the wild abandon of a dong-obsessed billionaire fleeing this doomed planet.

From The Verge

Valley and the lock operators had to wing it, pinching the gates closed to let the river again rise above the lake, then swinging them open again to let the swollen river drain into the lake.

From Seattle Times