▪ I. odd, a. (n.) and adv.
(ɒd)
Forms: 4–6 ode, 4–7 odde, od, (4 hod, 5 Sc. oyd), 5– odd.
[ME. odde, a. ON. odda- in comb. in odda-maðr (acc. odda-mann) third man, odd man, who gives the casting vote, odda-tala odd number, in which odda- is genitive or comb. form of oddi ‘point, angle, triangle’, whence ‘third or odd number’. The root of oddi:—*ozdon- is also that of oddr point, spot, place, OHG. ort angle, point, place, OS., OFris. ord, OE. ord point, tip, beginning, origin:—OTeut. *ozdoz; but none of the other languages have developed from ‘point’ the notion of ‘third or odd number’.
The sense seems to have been extended from the third or unpaired member of a group of three, to any single or unpaired member of a group, and from 3 as the primary ‘odd number’, to all numbers containing an unpaired unit. But this development was anterior to English use as recorded in documents.]
A. adj. I. With reference to number.
1. Of an individual: That is one in addition to a pair, or remaining over after distribution or division into pairs; constituting a unit in excess of an even number.
odd man [ON. oddamaðr], the third (fifth, etc.) man in a body of arbitrators, a committee, etc., who, in case of a division of opinion, may give the casting vote; a thirdsman, an umpire. odd trick, in whist, the thirteenth trick, won by one side after each side has won six.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 505 Noe of vche honest kynde nem out an odde & heuened vp an auter & halȝed hit fayre. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. lx. (Add. MS. 27944), And synowes beþ acounted in alle too & þritty peyre & one odde synowe. 1487–8 Burgh Rec. Prestwick 21 Jan. (1834) 32 Thai batht tuk Michel Masoun of Aire the oyd man for thaim batht. 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 270 That six lords of Almany..with the King of Bohemia the seventh, to be the the odd man and umpire, should choose him for ever. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 68 b, They flie two a breast, and the fift or odde Crane..flieth all alone before. 1581 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 231/1 Quharethrow his hines as odman and owrisman commonlie chosin be bath the saidis partijs..may gif finall decisioun. a 1654 Selden Table-t. (Arb.) 41 They talk (but blasphemously enough) that the Holy Ghost is President of their General-Councils, when the truth is, the odd man is still the Holy-Ghost. 1710 Brit. Apollo II. No. 101. 2/1 The Party.. got..the Odd Trick. 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. 239 Three to one now on the odd trick. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. v. 62 This fifth was the odd man whose casting vote would turn the scale. 1900 Foster Bridge 55 A player should always go over when he has any chance for the odd trick. |
2. a. Of a number: Having one left over as remainder when divided by two; opposed to
even.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xii. (Mathias) 308 Sa to be in nowmyre ode, It wes nocht til þai dwelte with god; for-thy he wald þai ware twelfe ewyn. c 1430 Art of Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 15 Compt the nombre of the figures, and wete yf it be ode or even. 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 170 There is no iuste halfe of any odde number. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. i. 3 This is the third time: I hope good lucke lies in odde numbers. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 303 Three, Seven, or Nine Times; as if God delighted in an Odd Number. 1743 Emerson Fluxions 80, m is the half of any positive odd Number. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 516 It [a wheel] in general contains an odd number of teeth. |
b. Numbered with or known by such a number. (The form of expression in
quot. 1575 is
obs.; we should now say ‘an odd number of dog's hairs’.)
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. iv. (MS. Bodl.) lf. 91 b/1 An euen monþe ansuereþ to an odde moneþ and an odde moneþ to an euen monþe. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 230 Some haue vsed in times past, to put a dogges haires odde into an Ash or Ceruisetree. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 145 If you make two such bodies..to run a tilt upon such a line of odd leastings. 1882 Minchin Unipl. Kinemat. 25 If the direction-angle of one equals that of the other increased by any odd multiple of π. 1955 J. A. Wheeler in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 166 The spontaneous fission rates of nuclei of odd mass number are observed to be slower than the rates for the corresponding even nuclei. 1966 Mathematical Rev. XXXI. 36/1 Matrices M of even order behave somewhat differently from those of odd order. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ii. 50 The most common form of redundancy check is the parity check, in which the value of a check bit is determined by the parity (odd or even) of the number of ones in the unit to be checked. |
c. † even and odd, all included, without exception, one and all;
† even nor odd, none at all.
† for odd or even, on any account;
for odd nor for even, on no account.
† for even or odd: see
even a. 15 c.
evenly odd,
oddly odd: see
quots.| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 382 How dar þu þane for hod or ewyn fra þi lorde tak hyre to þe? c 1440 Syr Gowther 285 Speke no word, even ne odde. c 1440, 1460, 1485 [see even a. 15 c]. 1570 Billingsley Euclid vii. def. 9. 185 A number euenly odde..is that which an euen number measureth by an odde number. Ibid. def. 10. 185 b, A number odly odde is that, which an odde number doth measure by an odde number. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 450/2 Evenly Odd Number. |
d. odd and (or) even (
dial. odds or evens): a game of chance
= even or odd (see
even a. 15 d).
| [1552 Huloet, Euen or odde, par, impar, a game much vsed now a dayes amonge chyldren.] 1836 E. Howard R. Reefer xii, Playing at odd-and-even for nuts. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxvii, They presently fell to pitch and toss, chuckfarthing, odd or even. 1882 Lanc. Gloss., Odd-or-even, a child's game, played by holding in the closed hand one or two small articles, the opposing player having to guess the number. |
e. absol. as n. the odd, uneven number.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. iii[i.] (Arb.) 85 Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen. Ibid. 86 This sort of composition in the odde I like not. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 328 Just as the odd is a part of number, and number is a more extended notion than the odd. |
f. Physics. Having odd parity.
| 1930 Physical Rev. XXXVI. 617 In the case of homonuclear molecules..any electron state may be either ‘odd’ or even. An electron state of a homonuclear molecule is said to be odd if the electronic factor of 4 changes sign on reflection in the midpoint of the line joining the nuclei, even, if it does not change sign. [Note] The use of ‘odd’ and ‘even’ in this sense was introduced by Hund... The words..are applied by Kronig, in a sense different from that used by Hund, to the complete 4 function of any molecule, homonuclear or heteronuclear. 1940 Ibid. LVIII. 104/1 The nearest one could come..would be to assume for the correct wave function a linear combination of two wave functions... These would correspond, respectively, to an even and odd state of the core. 1961 Encycl. Dict. Physics II. 786/2 Homonuclear molecules..can have even (g) orbitals (g for ‘gerade’) and odd (u) orbitals (u for ‘ungerade’) which are, respectively, symmetric and antisymmetric with respect to interchange of the nuclei. |
3. Used in numeration to denote a remainder or numerical surplus over and above a ‘round number’ (as of units over tens, dozens, or scores); and thus becoming virtually an indefinite cardinal number of lower denomination than the round number named.
a. in
phr. and odd preceding the
n. qualified.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 426 Of þe lenþe of Noe lyf to lay a lel date, Þe sex hundreth of his age & none odde ȝerez. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 166 b, Had contynued in the English possession, from the yere of our Lord .M. lv. which is .iii. C. and od yeres. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. v. (1886) 36 Bodin confirmeth them with an hundred and odd lies. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2356/4 With 200 and odd Pounds. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 109 Two hundred and odd men. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 29 Go into ecstasies over the eighty and odd pigeons. |
b. and odd, following the
n. arch. or
Obs.| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 68 They shall [fynde] ffele ffawtis, ffoure score and odde. c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 57 Sex hundreth yeris & od haue I,..In erth,..liffyd. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 120 The nomber whiche departed..were..five hundreth horsemen and odde wel and warlike. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 134 Distant sixtie miles and odde. 1642 Rogers Naaman 10 Full one thousand six hundred years and odde. |
c. without
and (chiefly after tens).
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. i. 96 Eightie odde yeeres of sorrow haue I seene. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxv. 202 Forty odde, if not fifty great bubbles of Air. 1703 Marlborough Lett. & Disp. (1845) I. 170 We have fifty odd of our troops taken. 1793 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 75 Fleeced of seventy odd dollars. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 159/1 The 1300 odd pages..contain much of extreme value. |
d. ellipt. denoting age, the word ‘years’ being understood.
colloq.| 1845 Hood Faithless Sally Brown xvii, His death, which happen'd in his berth, At forty-odd befell. 1862 Thackeray Wks. (1872) X. 223 At sixty odd, love, most of the ladies of thy orient race have lost the bloom of youth. |
4. a. Used to denote a surplus over a definite sum, or a remainder of lower denomination of money, weight, or measure.
| 1382 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 268 Of twelve monethes me wanted one, And odde days nyen or ten. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 806 The Mexicans divided the yeare into eighteene moneths, ascribing to each twentie dayes, so that the five odde dayes were excluded. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 90 It was 22s. 6½d.; 21s. I had been to fetch, and the odd money was my own before. 1873 Hale In His Name i. 1 He would relax his hold on the odd sols and deniers. |
† b. and odd or
odd (denoting an indefinite number) qualifying a
n. of lower denomination.
Obs. or
arch.| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 32 b, When he had reigned .xiii. yeres, v. monthes and odde daies. 1603 Petowe Stanzas in Farr S.P. Jas. I (1848), Three thousand and od hundred clowds appere. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 43 It is in the latitude of twenty two degrees, odde minutes north. 1714 Lond. Gaz. No. 5213/4, 11 Foot odd Inches in the Hold. 1813 Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary I. 434 Thirty-eight thousand odd hundred infantry, two thousand odd hundred cavalry. |
† c. (and) odd money, denoting a surplus sum of lower denomination.
Obs.| 1472 John Paston in P. Lett. III. 48 Your byll a lone drawyth iiij mark and ode monye. 1550 Edw. VI Jrnl. Rem. (Roxb.) 267 The det of thirty thousand pound and ode money was put over an yere. 1689 Wood Life 8 June (O.H.S.) III. 304 [They] broke as many windows as came to 7li. and od money. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 93 Pay the Thirty-five Pounds odd Money..; and the remaining Four Pounds odd will be a little Fund..towards the Childrens Schooling. |
d. A surplus of lower denomination of money, weight, or measure (as in b and c) is now expressed simply by adding
odd or
odds.
| 1742 [see c]. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. ii, The proceeds of the exhibition and sale amounted to 47l. odd. 1892 Law Times Rep. LXVII. 52/2 It was orally agreed..that the amount of such costs should be taken at 63l. odd. 1930 Times 25 Mar. 24/1 The balance-sheet shows a loan from the bankers of the company as at December 31 of {pstlg}118,413 odds. |
5. Math. Of a function of one variable: having the property that changing the sign of the argument changes the sign, but not the magnitude, of the function (
i.e. f(-
x)
= -
f(x)).
| 1886 A. G. Greenhill Differential & Integral Calculus ii. 80 fx is an odd function, so that f(-x) = -fx. 1899 F. G. Taylor Introd. Differential & Integral Calculus xi. 106 A function of x is said to be even when it is not altered..on changing x into -x; it is said to be odd when it is altered in sign, but not in magnitude. 1946 Ann. Computation Lab. Harvard Univ. I. 17 This feature is especially valuable when dealing with the interpolation of odd functions. 1969 A. M. Howatson Princ. Appl. Electricity iv. 74 Some waveforms..can be represented either by an even or by an odd function according to the choice of origin of θ. Others can be even but not odd..or odd but not even. |
II. Transferred senses.
6. That exists or stands alone; single, sole, solitary, singular. Now only
dial. † by odd, separately, by itself, alone (
obs.).
† all and odd, all and each, one and all (
obs.).
an odd one (
north. dial.) a single one, one only.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4614 Long pyles..dide þey make; ffaste yn Temese dide þey hem stake,..Ageyn þe schipes stod ilkon od. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xx. (Blasius) 140 Say nocht of godis, bot of god, Fore þat word afferis ay be ode. c 1510 More Picus Wks. 28 As he [God] in soueraine dignitie is odde, So will he in loue no parting felowes haue. 1556 Lauder Tractate 165 Cause ȝour prechours, all and od, Trewlie sett furth the wourd of God. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Odd, adj. single. 1876 Mid. Yorks. Gloss., Odd-house, a single dwelling, amid-land, always gets this name. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Odd,..single, lonely... ‘Odd kitlin, puppy, pig, chicken, stocking’ &c. 1888 Sheffield Gl., Odd, lonely. ‘An odd house’, ‘an odd place’. |
† 7. Singular in valour, worth, merit, or eminence; unique, remarkable; distinguished, famous, renowned; rare, choice.
Obs. (Compared
odder,
oddest.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 4097 With Eleuon od shippes abill to werre. Ibid. 4165 So od men in armys, & egur to fight. a 1400–50 Alexander 189 Ane of þe oddist Emperours of þe werde. Ibid. 2121 Þe honouris of þat odd clerke Homore þe grete. Ibid. 3783 Kyng porrus..eft had assemblid Anoþire ost of odmen him eft on to ride. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 101 For our tyme, the odde man to performe all three perfitlie..is, in my poore opinion, Iohannes Sturmius. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 20 A Gentleman (which..for skill in the Mathematicall Sciences and Languages is the Od man of this land). 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 38/2 He would..haue beene..knowne for as od a gentleman..as anie in the English pale of Ireland. 1592 Montgomerie Misc. Poems lv. 3 Good Robert Scot..Vho, vhill thou livd, for honestie wes od. 1611 Cotgr., Rebras, Vn entendement à double rebras, an odde head, a notable wit, a terrible pate. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Wales (1662) 34 He was an Odde man indeed, for all the Popish party could not match him with his equal in Learning and Religion. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 249 Where were many Neat Tombs; but the Oddest, because New, was one beset with Young Cypress Trees. |
† 8. a. Not even, accordant, or conformable; uneven, unequal, discrepant, diverse, different.
Obs.| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 138 The word under the coupe of hevene Set every thing or odde or evene. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 162 b, How ferre odde those persones are from the nature of this prince. 1551 Haddon Exh. Repent. in Furnivall Ballads I. 330 Lorde! that their lyves were nothing od Vnto their sayenge that they tell! 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utopia (ed. 2) Transl. to Rdr., The successe and our intente proue thinges farre odde. 1596 Roydon Elegy on Sidney's Astrophel v, Upon the branches of those trees, The airie-winged people sat, Distinguished in od degrees, One sort is this, another that. |
b. Not even or ‘square’, having a balance on the wrong side.
to be odd with, to fail of being ‘even’ or ‘quits’ with.
Cf. even a. 10, 10 c.
Obs.| 1450–70 Golagros & Gaw. 734 Than said bernys bald,..We sal evin that is od, or end in the pane. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche Wks. 1843 I. 120, I caste me nat to be od With neythyr of yow tewyne. |
c. At variance or strife; at odds (
with).
rare.
Obs.| 1562 Heywood Prov. & Epigr. 191 Thrift and thou art od. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 265 The generall state I feare, Can scarce intreat you to be odde with him. |
9. a. Extraneous or additional to what is reckoned or taken into account; hence, That is not, or cannot be, reckoned, included, or co-ordinated with other things; not belonging to any particular total, set, or group; not forming part of a regular series; unconnected; irregular; casual. Also, in weakened sense, merely conveying a notion of indefiniteness or fortuity,
esp. with
indef. adjs., as
some odd (
= ‘some or other’),
any odd (
= ‘any chance’, ‘any stray’).
odd ends, odd things, odds and ends (see
odds n. 7).
| a 1450 Myrc 198 Loke also they make non odde weddynge. a 1500 MS. Ashmole 344 (Bodl.) lf. 22 Thus shalt thou bryng in þi odde drawghtes in cas þu be a drawght behynde. 1567 Harman Caveat 62 There sekinge aboute for odde endes, [he] at length founde a lytle whystell of syluer. 1577 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 150 Bridales, purifications of women, and such od meetings. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 286 Vnhoneste sparing of euerie odd halfe⁓penie. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 337 Odde old [Qo. (1597) old odde] ends, stolne forth of holy writ. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, Brutus v, When we see perish thus by odd Events, Ill men, and wretched Accidents, The best Cause. a 1700 T. Plume Life Bp. Hacket (1865) 137 He often said..many years before his death, that some odd October would part us. 1707 W. Funnell Voy. round World 33 This second Prize, after we had taken out a few odd Things, was..dismist. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xii. ix. heading, Containing little more than a few odd observations. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 131 Odd rain-drops damp'd his face. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold i, They had come to see what odd pence they could pick up. 1883 Almondbury Gloss. s.v., An odd child is an illegitimate child. 1930 Daily Tel. 1 Dec. 9/3 The ‘odd’ heavy tweed skirt that is worn in the English country can be left behind. 1949 D. M. Davin Roads from Home iii. i. 210 He'd still be able to save the odd quid. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 Aug. p. ix/4 An endearing wizard liable to irritability and the odd fit of despair. 1973 G. Moffat Deviant Death i. 18 [He] could have made scarcely enough money from book reviews and the odd feature on country life to pay his petrol bill. |
b. Of a place: Situated apart from the general body of places; out of the way; in
phr. odd corner (
odd angle) (see
corner n.1 6), and
dial.| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 402 Being but a private man, and shutt up close in an odde corner. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 28 Vs to this od corner thee wynd tempestuus hurled. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 223 In an odde Angle of the Isle. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 645 He was constrained to..seeke odde corners for his safety. 1832 Tennyson Miller's Dau. 68 From some odd corner of the brain. |
c. Of an interval of time: Occurring casually between times of fixed occupation.
| 1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 100/2 They may have easily learned at any odd hour the Italian tongue. 1819 Arnold Let. in Stanley Life (1844) I. ii. 61, I fear I..do not make the most of all the odd five and ten minutes' spaces which I get in the course of the day. 1853 Lytton My Novel v. vii, He..bought a ‘Peerage’, and it became his favourite study at odd quarters of an hour. 1893 Jessopp Stud. by Recluse Pref. 9 The great teachers are not they who pick up their knowledge at odd moments. |
d. Not forming part of a regular course of work, as
odd job, a casual disconnected piece of work. Hence
odd-jobber,
odd-job(s) man one who does odd jobs (also
fig.) and similarly
odd man,
odd lad,
odd hand, etc.;
odd-job v.
intr., to do odd jobs;
odd-jobbing vbl. n.;
odd-timer,
odd work.
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Oct. xxii. 149 The Odd-man's Wages is from fifty Shillings, to four Pounds a Year. c 1770 in de Vries & Fryer Venus Unmasked (1967) 33 Miss E. P.... R.. has not received her stated allowance; is therefore obliged, in order to keep up appearances, to do odd jobs. 1798 J. Woodforde Diary 24 Nov. (1931) V. 148 Paid John Buck, Blacksmith, for divers odd Jobbs for the Year 1798 the Sum of 2.14.10. 18.. Mrs. Spofford Pilot's Wife, Pottering..about the house, and finding little odd jobs to attend to. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth II. iii. 64 Just try for a day to think of all the odd jobs as to be done well. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. i, Outside Tellson's..was an odd-job man. Ibid. iii. ix. 206 A gentleman like yourself wot I've had the honour of odd jobbing till I'm grey at it. 1860 ― Gt. Expect. (1861) I. vii. 90, I was.. odd-boy about the forge. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 964 Where a single footman, or odd man, is the only male servant then..he is required to make himself generally useful. 1863 All Year Round 11 July 472/2 Either can rest occasionally by employing an ‘odd man’, of whom there are several..ready to do ‘odd’ work. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Odd jobs, various small things on a farm, or in a large household, which require doing, but belong to no person's regular work. 1886 H. F. Lester Under two Fig Trees 99 All that the odd-jobber did was to stack the soil. 1892 W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy 161 A chambermaid and a nondescript odd-man constituted her staff of assistants. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Odd-laddy, a boy kept on farms to do odd..jobs, such as carting turnips, manure, etc. The horse he drives is called the odd-horse; his cart the odd-cart, etc. 1897 E. L. Voynich Gadfly 190, I lived by odd-jobbing for the blacks on the sugar plantations. 1905 Odd-man [see doorman 2]. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 186/1 Odd job man, modified description of the Shyster, who professes to do anything and only does his employer. 1915 R. Brooke Let. 20 Apr. (1968) 681 Ian Hamilton..asked me if I'd like to be attached to his staff as a sort of ‘galloper’ and odd-jobber—‘A.D.C.’. 1916 H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. i. 28 They become villa parasites and odd-job men. 1925 A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose i. xviii. 113 She's an odd-timer on Miss Marr's typist staff. 1933–4 Wittgenstein Blue & Brown Bks. (1958) 44 We are tempted to describe the use of important ‘odd-job’ words as though they were words with regular functions. 1938 D. Smith Dear Octopus i. 22 Just a sort of receptionist and general odd-jobber. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 25 He was not able to read or write, He did odd jobs on gentlemen's places, Cutting the hedge or hoeing the drive. 1944 F. Clune Red Heart 32 He taught, biked, and odd-jobbed his way around Great Britain for a year. 1948 in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 195 The odd-jobs man who was also the cowman and gardener at the homestead. 1973 A. Christie Postern of Fate ii. ii. 69 I've done odd jobbing, you know. 1977 Private Eye 4 Mar. 20/2 (Advt.), Carpentry, cleaning, electrics, decorating, gardening, handy persons, odd jobbers. |
e. Forming part of an incomplete pair or set.
| 1746 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 105 Calling odd man! as the hackney chairmen do when they want a partner. 1757 Mills in Phil. Trans. L. 108 It melted..a pair of sheepshears, and some odd brass buckles and candlesticks that lay on the wall. 1764 Foote Patron i. (1781) 25 With what stock did you trade? I can give you the catalogue... Two odd volumes of Swift; the Life of Moll Flanders [etc.]. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 229 Sellers of odd numbers of periodicals and broadsheets. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iii, Odd volumes of dismal books. |
† f. Extra; given over and above.
Obs.| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 185, I will win for him if I can: if not, Ile gaine nothing but my shame, and the odde hits. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. iii. 349 You shall haue 40 shillings and an odde pottle of wine. |
10. a. Differing in character from what is ordinary, usual, or normal; out of the ordinary course; extraordinary, strange. (Compared
odder,
oddest.)
| a 1592 H. Smith Serm. Wks. 1866 II. 84 Amongst the heathen they had many odd conceits. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 61 If she be mad..Her madnesse hath the oddest frame of sense. 1679 L. Addison 1st St. Mahumedism A ij b, Though many odde things are here set down of this Imposter, yet they are all own'd by his Sectaries. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 72 ¶2 He was a Member of the Everlasting Club. So very odd a Title raised my curiosity. 1772 T. Simpson Vermin-Killer i, Some may think it odd for a man to sit down and write on so trifling a subject as vermin. 1852 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. xiii. 243 An odd circumstance is that the oak-leaves this year are falling as soon as those of the elm. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. ix. 333 note, It is odd that they are not spoken of. a 1902 Mod. I know something still odder than that. |
b. Of persons, their actions, etc.: Strange in behaviour or appearance; peculiar; eccentric;
odd bod (
freq. in
pl.) [
bod].
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. i. 15 He is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odde, as it were. 1599 ― Much Ado iii. i. 72 So odde, and from all fashions, As Beatrice is. 1679 L. Addison 1st St. Mahumedism 33 Going up and down after an odd distracted manner. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 14 ¶1 An odd Fellow, whose Face I have often seen at the Playhouse, gave me the following Letter. 1741 Fielding Conversation Wks. 1784 IX. 369 One of these [philosophers], when he appears..among us, is distinguished..by the name of an odd fellow. 1796 Nelson 18 Aug. in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 243 Maurice Suckling..may be odd, but I believe none will do more real good with the estate. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 38 The village people thought her odd, and were a little afraid of her. 1955 [see bod]. 1966 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 15 Sept. 1/7 A family of 12 self-styled ‘odd bods’ is immigrating to Spain because Australia is ‘too conventional’. 1976 ‘J. Roffman’ Why Someone had to Die 78 Anyone would, except you who have an inborn bias toward the odd bods in society. |
c. Of material things: Strange in appearance, fantastic, grotesque.
| 1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 50 This Basement..does well enough; not but that it is something odd. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 517 He busied himself in making a Chest with 4 boards... It was but an ill shaped odd thing. 1838 Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germ. 484 In the garden of the château is an odd, many-sided building, resembling a Chinese temple. 1858 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 66 It is the oddest carriage in the world. |
B. n. (elliptical use of the
adj.)
a. An odd thing; that which is odd.
b. Golf. (See
quot. 1881.)
c. dial. A small point of land (
= ON. oddi,
oddr).
| 1830 Galt Lawrie T. ii. vii. (1849) 63, I have now and then meddled with an odd or an end. 1833 Macaulay Ess., H. Walpole (1887) 288 With the Sublime and the Beautiful Walpole had nothing to do..the Odd was his peculiar domain. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Odd, n. a small point of land or promontory; as ‘Green Odd’. 1881 Golfer's Handbook 35 (Jam. Suppl.) (1) ‘An odd’, ‘two odds’, etc. per hole, means the handicap given to a weak opponent by deducting one, two, etc. strokes from his total every hole. (2) To have played ‘the odd’ is to have played one stroke more than your adversary. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 10/2 Mr. Douglas English contributes an interesting preface on ‘The Photography of the Odd’, with some excellent pictures—tree frog, caterpillar, dormouse, and so on. |
C. adv. and quasi-adv. † 1. In a singular or unusual degree, extraordinarily, eminently; absolutely, completely.
Obs.| c 1400 Destr. Troy 7466 His armour was od good. Ibid. 10839 Pantasilia..That honerable Ector od myche louyt. Ibid. 9597 Deffibus..Pletid vnto Paris..Whether the Duke were od dede. c 1450 Merlin 159 These kynges were odde noble knyghtes. |
2. quasi-adv. in various senses: see the
adj.| 1567 P. Beverley Verses in Fenton's Trag. Disc., Wherin he lives so odde from right and lawe. 1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde vi, I meane professors of the trueth, How far yet live they od! 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 170 How strange or odde so ere I beare my selfe. 1876 ‘P. Pyper’ Mr. Gray and Neighbours, ‘We lives odd, yer honour, in a tent’. ‘Living odd’..means in Marshland phraseology living in a house standing by itself. |
D. Comb. 1. General comb. of the
adj.:
a. parasynthetic, as (sense 2)
odd numbered,
odd-toed adjs; (sense 10)
odd-conceited (
† -ceited),
odd-humoured,
odd-mannered,
odd-peaked,
odd-shaped,
odd-sighted adjs.| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 46 Ile knit it vp in silken strings, With twentie *od-conceited true-loue knots. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iv. i. Wks. 1873 III. 423, I have heard much of this old od-ceited Justice Clack. |
| 1665 Needham Med. Medicinæ 41 If an *odd-humor'd disease happen. |
| 1882 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 235 Placing two settlers on homesteads on each even-numbered section and also two settlers on each *odd-numbered section. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VI. 293 A number of *odd shaped animals. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 54 He..carries an odd-shaped fiddle. 1967 Karch & Buber Offset Processes ii. 34 Products include paper and board too large for conventional presses (over 80 inches), odd-shaped objects, posters, [etc.]. 1977 P. D. James Death of Expert Witness iii. 169 The gathering of those odd-shaped pieces of information..which, in the end, would click together to form a picture. |
| 1690 Bentley Phal. 505 What an *odd sighted Examiner I have to deal with; that..can see in Books what never was there. |
| 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 424 The hind feet are *odd-toed. |
b. the
adj. or
adv. with a
pple., as
odd-contrived,
odd-looking,
odd-sounding,
odd-thinking,
odd-turned adjs.| a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 127 If he delighteth in *odd contrived phancies. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VI. 99 This *odd-looking animal. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. III. v. xxxviii. 135 Spectators would be likely to think of him as an odd-looking Jew. 1976 J. B. Hilton Gamekeeper's Gallows ii. 23 Beresford was curious to know what this odd-looking character was carrying. |
| 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 45 Such far-fetch'd and *odd-sounding expressions. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Cranford vii. 131 There she sat, as stately and composed as though we had never heard that odd-sounding cough. 1942 Partridge Usage & Abusage (1947) 15/1 Admittable is rare and odd-sounding for admissible. |
| 1717 Prior Alma iii. 47 Some *odd-thinking youth, Less friend to doctrine than to truth. |
| 1772 Ann. Reg. 47 He had an *odd-turned mind, and a bad heart. |
c. the
adj. with a
n., forming an
attrib. phr., as
odd-number,
odd-order,
odd-parity.
| 1922 F. F. Potter Teaching of Arithmetic xvii. 325 The simple *odd-number series. 1957 L. Fox Numerical Solution Two-Point Bound. Probl. vi. 141 This too is connected with the use of central differences for even-order equations, but of mean central differences for *odd-order equations. 1962 Gloss. Terms Automatic Data Processing (B.S.I.) 33 When the numbers of ones (or zeros) is required to be odd the check is called an *odd parity check, and when even an even parity check. 1967 Bodl. Libr. Rec. VIII. 3 The second drawback is the use of an odd-parity code, with seven-hole punching necessary for a plain tape-feed. |
2. Special comb.:
odd-and-end a., promiscuous, miscellaneous, consisting of odds and ends: see
odds 7;
odd-come-short, a short length of cloth forming the end of a piece; an odd remainder or fragment;
pl. odds and ends;
odd-come-shortly, some day or other in the near future;
odd-even a. Nuclear Physics, (
a) of or pertaining to nuclei of odd mass number and those of even mass number; (
b) applied to nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an even number of neutrons;
odd-gaits,
-gates local [
gate n.2 9 b], odd, strange, out of the way;
odd-horse = odd-man-out (a);
odd man out, (
a) a mode of singling out, by tossing or the like, one person from among three or more, to perform some part, pay the reckoning (hence
to go the odd man), etc.; (
b) a person or thing differing from all others of a group in some respect;
odd-man-wins, a gambling game in which three toss coins, and the one who tosses with a different result from the two others, wins;
odd-mark, ‘that portion of the arable land of a farm set apart for a particular crop, as it comes in order of rotation under the customary cultivation of the farm’ (Miss Jackson
Shropsh. Word-bk.);
odd-odd a. Nuclear Physics, (
a) of or pertaining to nuclei of odd mass number only; (
b) applied to nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an odd number of neutrons;
odd-pinnate a., pinnate (as a leaf) with an odd terminal leaflet, imparipinnate. See also oddfellow,
oddwoman.
| 1846 J. Brown Lett. (1912) 90, I have no continuity and thoroughness of thought,..and my style, if style it can be called, is the piebaldest, *oddandendest. 1863 N. Macleod Remin. Highland Parish ii, A little world of its own, to which wandering pipers, parish fools..with all sorts of odd-and-end characters came. |
| 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney III. 316 Some supplementary parcels, and what elderly ladies in country towns call ‘*odd-come-shorts’. 1873 R. Broughton Nancy I. 79 A dinner-party..a squire or two, a squiress or two, a curate or two—such odd-come-shorts as can be got together..at briefest notice. 1876 ― Joan (1877) 46 An old laurel tree, into which every odd-come-short that the family has not known where else to deposit..has been put. |
| 1738 Swift Polite Convers. i, Col. Miss, when will you be married? Miss. One of these *odd-come-shortly's, colonel. 1821 Scott Lett. II. 110, I will write her a long letter one of these odd-come-shortlys. |
| 1936 Physical Rev. XLIX. 897/1 The transitions are of the *odd-even type. 1949 Gamow & Critchfield Theory of Atomic Nucleus iv. 88 δα = 0 for even-even nuclei, = 1 for odd-even nuclei, = 2 for odd-odd nuclei. 1955 J. A. Wheeler in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 166 Odd-even differences in spontaneous fission. The spontaneous fission rates of nuclei of odd mass number are observed to be slower than the rates for the corresponding even nuclei. 1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. ix. 195 The tentative explanation of this phenomenon, called odd-even staggering, is beyond the scope of this discussion. |
| 1906 Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 263 Won'erful *odd-gates place—Romney Marsh. 1957 H. Hall Parish's Dict. Sussex Dial. 88/2 Oddgaits, extraordinary. ‘It's an odd-gaits sort of place.’ |
| 1801 Sporting Mag. XIX. 115 No cards, dice, *odd-horse, or tossing-up to be permitted. |
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxxvi, Going the *odd man or plain Newmarket for fruit, ginger beer. |
| 1889 Sat. Rev. 2 Feb. 128/2 The good luck which attends us in the political ‘*odd-man-out’ game. 1928 F. W. Crofts Sea Mystery xvi. 263 Mrs. Berlyn as hostess would reasonably be the odd man out when the change was made from snooker to billiards. 1935 Mrs. Belloc Lowndes Let. 10 Aug. (1971) 129 Rex Whistler..is rather ‘odd man out’, though he is so quiet and unassuming that everyone likes him. 1945 F. L. Green (title) Odd man out. 1958 Times 29 Nov. 9/1 Here..is the fallen foe [sc. the pike]; not merely our foe, but..the odd man out in Nature and in the sporting Canon. 1969 in Halpert & Story Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland 33 These settlements are ‘odd men out’; at odds with outside economic forces. 1970 Guardian 19 Nov. 11/4 The products..would look odd men out in a formal setting. 1973 Listener 15 Nov. 658/1 Eight of the present nine members of the EEC voted in favour, the odd man out being..Denmark. |
| 1884 St. James's Gaz. 5 Dec. 6/1 At coin-spinning the game generally played is ‘*odd man wins’. |
| 1805 Duncombe in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. (1853) XIV. ii. 455 Nearly one third of the arable land is constantly under the culture of wheat, and that third, during its preparation for the seed, is termed the *odd mark. 1855 Ibid. XVI. ii. 557 Supposing his oddmark of wheat about 20 acres..he sacrificed the full amount of the half year's rent. |
| 1936 Physical Rev. XLIX. 897/1 The transition is of an *odd-odd or even-even type. 1937 Ibid. LI. 951/2 The condition..for the instability of odd-odd nuclei should read g + 2gσ |
▪ II. † odd, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. odd a.] trans. To make odd or irregular (in
quot. in reference to syncopation).
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 89 The third is a driuing waie in two crotchets and a minime, but odded by a rest, so that it neuer commeth euen till the close. |