kludge A crock that works. (A long-ago Datamation article by Jackson Granholme similarly said: An ill-assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole. ) 3. v. To use a kludge to get around a problem. I've kludged around it for now, but I'll fix it up properly later. This word appears to have derived from Scots kludge or kludgie for a common toilet, via British military slang. It apparently became confused with U.S. kluge during or after World War II; some Britons from that era use both words in definably different ways, but kluge is now uncommon in Great Britain. Kludge in Commonwealth hackish differs in meaning from kluge in that it lacks the positive senses; a kludge is something no Commonwealth hacker wants to be associated too closely with. Also, kludge is more widely known in British mainstream slang than kluge is in the U.S.