A brazilian expression. It basically means to use improvised methods / solutions to solve a
problem, with any avaiable material.
English equivalents would include "McGyverism", "Kludge","Quick Fix", "
Alternative Engineering", "Workaround", and so on.
1)
Person 1: I fixed the shower,
go take a look at it!
Person 2: What's with all those wires? Thats one hell of a gambiarra you did!
Person 1: Hey, at least it works!... kinda.
2)
Person 1: Thank goodness you made the
car work again! have you made a gambiarra?
Person 2: I prefer to call it '
alternative engineering'