When you work something out as you go, without having a plan or pattern to follow: “I didn’t have anything to go by, so I just (did it) ________.”
This question was slightly altered from the 1965–70 question.
| PLAYED IT BY EAR | 9 |
| BY TRIAL AND ERROR | 3 |
| BY EAR | 2 |
| BY GUESS AND BY GOLLY | 2 |
| BY HOOK OR BY CROOK | 2 |
| BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS | 2 |
| FLEW BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS | 2 |
| FOLLOWED MY NOSE | 2 |
| HIT OR MISS | 2 |
| WINGED IT | 2 |
| AS IT CAME | 1 |
| BY HOOK AND BY CROOK | 1 |
| FAKED IT | 1 |
| MADE IT UP AS I WENT ALONG | 1 |
| OFFHAND | 1 |
| ON MY OWN | 1 |
| WUNG IT | 1 |
DARE Data Summary by Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.