Brewer's: Pis-aller

(French). As a shift; for want of a better; a dernier ressort; better than nothing.

“She contended herself with a pis-aller, and gave her hand ... in six months to the son of the baronet's steward.” —SirW.Scott: Waverley. chap. v.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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