wing it

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

"Yeah Brennan's fine. It was just tactical. I thought we would need Deki Kulusevski because the way the game is going, Deki is a like a hybrid midfielder and can also break out on that right wing. It was just a tactical switch, but Brennan is fine."

From BBC

Like “The West Wing,” it was a break from reality.

From Los Angeles Times

If you look at the choreography of “The West Wing,” it was always set up so that it would move and move and move.

From Los Angeles Times

“I feel like that’s a shot I’ve hit pretty much all year — that wing. It felt like a routine shot. He didn’t have a hand up, and I really saw over him. So I just shot it.”

From Seattle Times

"Before you could wing it for six months. But now, you have to make it until the end of the war," he writes.

From BBC