extemporise

Žižek, though, regards the idea of a central thesis in much the same way that the great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane regarded a melody – as something to riff off, extemporise on, and return to only when all associated sub-themes have been exhausted.

Slavoj Žižek: interview 2010

As so often in our institutional history, the right answer was to extemporise judiciously.

Britain at its best 2009

As so often in our institutional history, the right answer was to extemporise judiciously.

Gordon Brown, Charlie Whelan and Me 2009

Now when I heard this, O Commander of the Faithful, great concern get hold of me and I was beyond measure troubled, and behold, I heard a Voice from behind me extemporise these couplets,

The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

In a word, Themistocles, by natural power of mind and with the least preparation, was of all men the best able to extemporise the right thing to be done.

The History of the Peloponnesian War Thucydides 2007

I am sure you will have a personal acqaintance who will give you the bare bones of the joke, and you can extemporise from there.

Begging for Jokes... 2007

Was she an helpmeet for a black-letter man, who talked with the Fathers in his daily walks, could extemporise Latin hexameters, and dream in Greek.

Wylder's Hand 2003

Hornblower forced himself to extemporise some casual sentence which may or may not have been relevant.

Hornblower In The West Indies Forester, C. S. 1958

In the early hours of the morning the young officer awoke, and running through his head was a melody which, in his semi-drunken state the evening before, he had been attempting to extemporise.

A Soldier's Sketches Under Fire Harold Harvey

She could repeat prayers and extemporise them as of old, but there was no more satisfaction in the effort than in asking a favour of an empty room.

The Beth Book Being a Study of the Life of Elizabeth Caldwell Maclure, a Woman of Genius Sarah Grand