oddadj.n.¹adv.

Brit.

/ɒd/, U.S.

/ɑd/

Forms: Middle English oode, Middle English–1500s ode, Middle English–1600s odde, Middle English–1700s od, Middle English– odd, 1900s– hodd (English regional); Scottish pre-1700 hod, pre-1700 od, pre-1700 odde, pre-1700 ode, pre-1700 oyd, pre-1700 1700s– odd.

Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian.

Etymology: < early Scandinavian: compare Norwegian odde , Old Swedish odda , udda (Swedish udda ), early modern Danish odde (Danish regional odde ), all in sense ‘(of a number) odd’, and also Old Icelandic odda- , combining form (in odda-maðr , third man, odd man, who gives the casting vote, odda-tala odd number) of oddi triangle, point or tongue of land, odd number (see odd n.²); the adjectives in other Scandinavian languages are probably of similar origin (compare Norwegian oddetal, early modern Danish oddetal, both in sense ‘odd number’).The senses ‘odd’, ‘odd number’ in early Scandinavian apparently developed by metaphor from ‘triangle’ (as being three-cornered), and thence by extension from the third or unpaired member of a group of three, to any single or unpaired member of a group, and from three as the primary ‘odd number’, to all numbers containing an unpaired unit.

A. adj.

I. With reference to number.

1. Of an individual: that is one in addition to a pair, or to an even number; remaining over after distribution or division into pairs; constituting a unit in excess of an even number. Cf sense A. 8d.Cf. odd man n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > even > that is one unit in excess of

odda1325

a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) 1497 His cloþes hi delde a ffoure..Þo was his curtel odde.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 64 Synowes beþ a-countid in alle too & þritty peyre & one odde synowe.

c1465 Inventory in Trans. Bristol & Gloucs. Archaeol. Soc. 1893–4 (1894) 18 326 A peyre vestements for werkedays and an odde awbe for to change.

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 68^v They flie two a breast, and the fift or odde Crane..flieth all alone before.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. v. 115 If we survey the totall set of animals, we may in their legs..observe an equality of length, and parity of numeration; that is, not any to have an odde leg.

1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 262 (Gleek) If an odd number is given the eldest hand claims the largest half, or else the odd one is given to the pool.

1878 F. H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 77 We took the fruit up to my cabin, and the boys got around and we divided them squar and even, thar bein' one odd one over, which we put on One-eared Sam's pile, bein' as he was crippled.

1977 D. Bagley Enemy i. 9 I was invited as a makeweight for the odd girl.

a. Of a whole number: having one left over as remainder when divided by two. Opposed to even.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > odd

odda1398

imparc1430

uneven1577

unequal1697

odd-numbered1850

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 327 Nyne and fourty þat..comeþ of multiplicacioun of odde nombres, as seuene siþe seuene makeþ nyne and fourty.

c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 38 Yf the other figure signyfie any other digital nombre fro vayte forthe, oþer the nombre is ode or evene.

c1475 Court of Sapience (Trin. Cambr.) (1927) 1961 (MED) She taught nombre, whyche ys odde and whyche ys euyn.

1543 R. Record Ground of Artes i. sig. K.vii^v There is no iuste halfe of any odde nomber.

1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. xix. f. 67^v The common order with us is to have them [sc. a jury] of an odde number, as 17, 19, or 21, to the ende..that if they should dissent in opinion..there should bee alwayes one to..cast the ballance.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) v. i. 2 This is the third time: I hope good lucke lies in odde numbers.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 303 Three, Seven, or Nine Times; as if God delighted in an Odd Number.

1743 W. Emerson Doctr. Fluxions 80 m is the half of any positive odd Number.

1786 T. Jefferson Let. Oct. in Writings (1984) 608 An odd number of syllables with a single rhyme,..prove the verse to be imparisyllabic.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 516 It [sc. a wheel] in general contains an odd number of teeth.

1891 R. Routledge Discov. 19th Cent. (ed. 8) 325 The undulations will plainly be in opposite phases when the lengths of paths differ by an odd number of half-wave lengths.

1950 S. Thompson Old Time Dancing i. 9 To memorise positions it is well to note that the odd numbers, i.e., the first, third and fifth, are all closed positions.

1990 M. Balfour Sign of Serpent (BNC) 22 Cobra effigies and icons are in most part multicephalous, that is possessing three, five, seven or sometimes nine heads, always an odd number.

b. Numbered with or known by an odd number.The form of expression in quot. 1575 is obsolete; the modern expression would be ‘an odd number of dog's hairs’.

ΚΠ

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 122 An euene mone answeriþ to an odde moneþ and an odde mone to an euene moneþ.

c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 63^v (MED) If it so be þat þer bihoueþ mo sticchis þan two, þanne euermore þer schal be odde sticchis, as þre, fyue, or vij, & so forþ.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 230 Some haue vsed in times past, to put a dogges haires odde into an Ash or Ceruisetree.

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 145 If you make two such bodies..to run a tilt upon such a line of odd leastings.

1786 T. Jefferson Let. Oct. in Writings (1984) 607 With us the accent is on every odd syllable or on every even one or on every third.

1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 25 If the direction-angle of one equals that of the other increased by any odd multiple of π.

1966 Math. Rev. 31 36/1 Matrices M of even order behave somewhat differently from those of odd order.

1981 ‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty (1988) ii. 16 Odd decades in our century seem to be ghastly..the thirties, the fifties, the seventies.

1990 N.Y. Press 11 July 13/1 A..series of escalators,..with the up series hitting the even floors and down hitting the odd ones.

†c. In various phrases contrasting with even, the two together being regarded as comprising everything. See even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 4. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

a1450 (?c1400) Sir Gowther (Royal) (1886) 285 Speke no word, even ne odde.

c1475 Erthe upon Erthe (Brogyntyn) (1911) 25 (MED) Loke þou lete, for oode ne for ewyne.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 201 (MED) I haue sene the lamb of god..And towchid hym, for euen or od.

1570 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation xx. 120 Tratours kene That ithandly hes streuin For to deface the nobill race Of Stewarts, od and euin.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iii. 18 Euen or odde, of all dayes in the yeare come Lammas Eue at night shall she be fourteene.

1603 Thre Prestis of Peblis (Charteris) (1920) 43 I sweir the be the Heuin, I sal hir neuer displeis for od nor euin.

1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra ii. iv. §28 One cannot so much as phantastically choose, Even or Odd.

d. Mathematics. evenly odd: (of a number) that is double an odd number. oddly odd: (of an odd number) that is the product of two smaller odd numbers. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > produced in a certain way > produced by factors > of specific kinds

superficiala1398

evenly odd1570

oddly odd1570

plano-solida1679

1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. vii. f. 185 A number euenly odde..is that which an euen number measureth by an odde number.

1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. vii. f. 185^v A number odly odde is that, which an odde number doth measure by an odde number.

1798 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 88 376 If m be evenly odd, or ^m/ ₂ an odd number, then the equation for determining z, has either two possible roots, or two of the form a±b√−1.

1974 L. M. Osen Women in Math. 35 When the emperor Hadrian inquires to know the ages of Sapientia's three daughters (Faith, Hope, and Charity), the reply is that Charity's age is represented by a defective evenly even number; Hope's by a defective evenly odd number; and that of Faith by an oddly even redundant one.

e. Mathematics. Of a permutation of a set of items: obtained from the natural arrangement by an odd number of transpositions of items.

ΚΠ

1893 L. G. Weld Theory of Determinants ii. 22 The permutations..of a group are divided into two classes, the even or positive permutations and the odd or negative permutations.

1927 O. Veblen Invariants Quadratic Differential Forms i. 3 The generalized Kronecker delta has k superscripts and k subscripts, each running from 1 to n... If the superscripts are distinct from each other and the subscripts are the same set of numbers as the superscripts, the value of the symbol is + 1 or − 1 according as an even or an odd permutation is required to arrange the superscripts in the same order as the subscripts; in all other cases its value is 0.

1997 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 453 903 Taking {α₁,α₂,α₃} = {1,2,3}, {β₁,β₂,β₃} can be either an even or an odd permutation of {α₁,α₂,α₃}.

f. Physics. [After German ungerade (introduced in this sense by F. Hund 1928, in Zeitschr. f. Physik 51 781, and earlier in a slightly different sense (compare quot. 1930, note) by R. de L. Kronig 1928, in Zeitschr. f. Physik 50 351).] Of a quantum state, orbital, etc.: having odd parity, i.e. antisymmetric with respect to a change of sign of coordinates.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [adjective] > having odd or even parity

odd1930

1930 R. de L. Kronig in Physical Rev. 36 617 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 ψ 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 ψ function of any molecule, homonuclear or heteronuclear.

1940 Physical Rev. 58 104/1 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.

g. Chemistry. In atmospheric chemistry: designating an element normally present as a diatomic molecule (as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine) when it occurs as a constituent of a more reactive species containing an odd number of atoms of that element.

ΚΠ

1932 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 137 33 The stability of the oxygen atom in N₂O at 700° C is about the same as that of the odd oxygen of ozone at ordinary temperatures.]

1967 Planetary & Space Sci. 15 194 Because the photo-dissociation proceeds partly through (2) odd nitrogen atoms (mainly combined as NO or NO₂) are necessarily associated with nitrous oxide.

1974 Nature 22 Nov. 292/3 Odd chlorine is a more potent catalyst for the destruction of ozone than is odd nitrogen.

1977 I. M. Campbell Energy & Atmosphere ix. 353 In Figure 113 we can see that several species contribute significantly to the ‘odd hydrogen’ concentration, notably H with lesser contributions from OH and HO₂.

1995 Science 5 May 706 Fig. 3 illustrates the most important terms in the ozone budget, calculated from that of odd oxygen (or O₃ equivalent).

a. Used to denote a surplus over a definite sum, or a remainder (usually expressed in a lower denomination) of weight, measure, or money; additional, extra, remaining. Now rare except as passing into more general sense at A. 8a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or superfluous > surplus of lower denomination

odda1400

a1400 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 162 (MED) Of twelue moneþes me wanted one & odde days nyen or ten.

a1500 (?a1400) Tale King Edward & Shepherd (Cambr.) (1930) 75 (MED) Me is owand iiii pounde And odde twa schillyng.

1562 Linlithgow Sheriff Court 19 Dec. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) And gif ony ode siluir be contenit in the testament the samin salbe payit with the first ten merkes at Ȝule nixt to cum.

1590–1 in R. Edgar Hist. Dumfries (1915) 255 Thai annualrentis..extendis in the terme to threscoir tuelf pundis with sum od schillingis or thairby.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 806 The Mexicans divided the yeare into eighteene moneths, ascribing to each twentie dayes, so that the five odde dayes were excluded.

1657 in Misc. Sc. Hist. Soc. VII. 14 3 pund sterlinge and som od munie.

1687 Corshill Baron-Court Bk. in Archæol. & Hist. Coll. Ayr & Wigton (1884) IV. 174 Seaven fourtine shilling peices and some od turnouris.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Triemimeris Is a Branch of the Cæsura of a Latine Verse, when after the first Foot of the Verse there remains an odd Syllable, which helps to make the next Foot.

1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 107 It was Two and Twenty Shillings and Six-Pence Half penny; One and Twenty Shillings I had been to fetch, and the odd Money was my own before.

1781 G. W. Beekman Let. 10 July in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) III. 1389 I Received yours of the 6 Instent and Note the Contents I now Send you per Mr. John Goodin five half Joes is 40 Dollars Give the od Dollar to Sister Rutgers.

1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede v. xxxvi. 418 Her two guineas, and the odd shillings, which had a melancholy look.

1873 E. E. Hale In his Name i. 1 He would relax his hold on the odd sols and deniers.

1892 S. Laing Human Origins (1893) 117 They had invented a sothic cycle for the odd quarter of a day.

1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xx. 185 Part o' that cap'tal,..consistin' of a quarter an' some odd cents, was invested in the cirkis bus'nis.

1937 Life 26 July 76/2 (advt.) The Fidelity Income Plan... If you can set aside a little odd change each day, you are eligible.

†b. and odd: denoting an indefinite number and qualifying a noun of lower denomination in an otherwise definite expression of quantity or amount; ‘and some’; ‘and a few’. Also without and. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > indefinite

and odda1438

and odd1634

infinite1660

indeterminate1706

indetermined1706

a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 7 (MED) Þis creatur..was wondyrlye vexid & labowryd wyth spyritys half ȝer, viij wekys, & odde days.

a1450 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §25 48 Than leveth there 38 degrees and odde minutes.

1481 Perth Guildry 11 Oct. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (1983) V. 34/2 Tweching the clame of vjs. grottis and od siluer of the usuale mone of Flandris.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xxxii^v When he had reigned .xiii. yeres, v. monthes & odde daies.

1603 H. Petowe Elizabetha quasi Viuens sig. B2 Three thousand and od hundred clowds appere.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 43 It is in the latitude of twenty two degrees, odde minutes North.

1671 J. Sharp Midwives Bk. v. x. 297 The Moons Month..that is twenty seven daies and odd minutes.

1714 London Gaz. No. 5213/4 11 Foot odd Inches in the Hold.

1813 R. Wilson Private 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. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > money > sum of money > [phrase] > small

(and) odd money1447

two and a plack1692

red cent1837

society > trade and finance > money > sum of money > [noun] > small sum > as surplus (after payment)

(and) odd money1447

change1665

wissel1808

1447 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) 16 (MED) Thomas Montagew sholde sende me xj li. and odde mony.

1472 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 575 Your byll a-lone drawyth iiij mark and ode monye.

1550 King Edward VI Jrnl. in Lit. Remains (1857) 267 The det of thirty thousand pound and ode money was put over an yere.

a1641 A. Munday et al. Bk. Sir Thomas More (1911) 6 Ten poundes, odd monie, this is a prettie sum, to [bea]re about.

1689 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 304 [They] broke as many windows as came to 7li. and od money.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvii. 93 Pay the Thirty-five Pounds odd Money.

1752 H. Fielding Amelia III. viii. ii. 115 He hath been here these five Weeks, at the Suit of a Bookseller, for Eleven Pound odd Money.

d. Used elliptically, simply as odd or (occasionally) odds, to denote an indeterminate surplus of a lower denomination of money, weight, or measure (as in senses A. 3b and A. 3c).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > greater in quantity, amount, or degree > with positive amount added

odd1741

plus1928

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvii. 93 The remaining Four Pounds odd will be a little Fund..towards the Childrens Schooling.

1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful I. ii. 32 The proceeds of the exhibition and sale amounted to 47l. odd.

1892 Law Times Rep. 47 52/2 It was orally agreed..that the amount of such costs should be taken at 63l. odd.

1923 Hansard Commons 12 June 322 In 1913..the total value of the commodities which are now subject to the McKenna duties amounted to £2,600,000 odd.

1961 Listener 26 Oct. 659/2 The £6-odd offered (per week) by banks and post offices, etc., to sixteen-year-old ‘O’ levellers.

1990 Match Fishing Feb. 7/1 End of the day, 5lb odd for a section win, despite being ripped off by a pike.

4. More generally: used to denote a remainder or numerical surplus over and above a ‘round number’ (as a multiple of ten or a similar unit such as dozen, etc.), and thus becoming virtually an indefinite cardinal number of lower denomination than the round number named.

†a. In and odd following the noun modified by the numeral. Obsolete (rare in later use).

ΚΠ

a1450 ( tr. Vegetius De Re Militari (Douce) f. 26 (MED) Bitwene þe firste werrus of þe Pynus and þe secounde, þat was twenty ȝere and odde [L. uiginti et quod..annorum].

c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) Prol. 68 (MED) They shall fele fawtis foure score and odde.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 24 (MED) Sex hundreth yeris & od haue I..liffyd.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxx The nomber whiche departed..were..fiue hundreth horsemen and odde wel and warlike.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 134 Distant sixtie miles and odde.

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 10 Full one thousand six hundred years and odde.

1700 T. D'Urfey Famous Hist. Rise & Fall Massaniello i. i. i. 5 Fifty and odd, and more a coming too.

1720 J. Dennis Invader of his Country ii. iii. 27 For your Voices I have fought,..for your Voices, bear of Wounds two Dozen and odd.

1846 C. Dickens Let. 30 Aug. (1977) IV. 615 Bradbury and Evans's account for the half year is £1100 and odd.

1894 ‘M. Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson xviii. 241 What are you thinking of? Go and ask him for three hundred dollars and odd?

1911 J. London Piece of Steak in Sel. Stories (1982) 858 They were eyes that saw everything, that had been trained to see everything through all his twenty years and odd in the ring.

b. In and odd forming with the numeral a phrase preceding the noun modified. Now rare (chiefly regional).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of

some fewOE

puckleOE

a litec1290

couple1365

a…or twoa1400

handfulc1443

a wheen (of)1487

and odd1548

sprinkling1561

pair1611

scattering1628

sprinkle1754

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 426 Of þe lenþe of Noe lyf..Þe sex hundreth of his age and none odde ȝerez.]

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxvj^v Had contynued in the English possession, from the yere of our Lord.M.lv.which is.iii. C. & od yeres.

1569 R. Androse tr. ‘Alessio’ (title) A verye excellent and profitable booke conteining sixe hundred foure score and odde experienced medicines.

1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. v. 46 Bodin confirmeth them with a hundred and odd lies.

1612 W. Symonds Proc. Eng. Colonie Virginia xi. 85 in Narr. Early Virginia (1907) 185 Now wee so quietly followed our businesse that in 3 monthes, we made 3 or 4 Last of Pitch, and tarre, and sope ashes;..of 3 sowes, in one yeare increased 60 and od pigges.

1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 316 We agreed for threescore and odd pistols, which I laid down; but he recanting and demanding more, I withdrew my money.

1688 London Gaz. No. 2356/4 With 200 and odd Pounds.

1704 Boston News-let. 26 June 2/2 Cap. Stevens..who went on shore with about 100 & odd men at the River of Chechopege.

1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. i. 109 Two hundred and odd men.

1766 W. Kenrick Falstaff's Wedding i. v. 6 Having..ridden post day and night fourscore and odd miles, to congratulate him on his accession.

1814 F. Burney Wanderer V. ix. lxxvii. 9 Though..a straunger in these parts, till I was married; my feather-in-law, who has lived in them, mon and boy, better than ninety and odd years, [etc.].

1823 Ld. Byron Let. 3 Mar. (1980) X. 115 There remains 5000 and odd pounds.

1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 29 Go into ecstasies over the eighty and odd pigeons.

1926 J. Devanny Butcher Shop x. 90 He had deprived himself of his mate, his ‘cobber’ for twenty and odd years.

1930 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 38 A man..weighing two hundred and odd pounds.

1992 Pioneer on Sunday (Delhi) 13 Sept. 5/2 The five thousand and odd indigenous Nauruans will have to..take urgent steps to restore what is left of their land.

c. Immediately following the numeral (usually one that denotes multiples of ten) forming a phrase preceding the noun modified. Now often in weakened use (frequently hyphenated): ‘or so’; ‘or thereabouts’.

ΚΠ

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iv. i. 95 Eightie odde yeares of sorrow haue I seene.

1649 J. Goodwin Ὑβριστοδίκαι: Obstructours of Justice 1 Those fourtie odde Ministers of Jesus Christ..were not ashamed to make God himself a Patron and Protectour of murtherers.

1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xxv. 202 Forty odde, if not fifty great bubbles of Air.

1703 Duke of Marlborough Lett. & Disp. (1845) I. 170 We have fifty odd of our troops taken.

1747 Boston Weekly News-let. 16 July 2/1 Hendrick, the Indian who went out..to annoy the French in their Out-Settlements at Canada, with thirty odd Indians.

1793 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 75 Fleeced of seventy odd dollars.

1805 T. Jefferson Let. 8 Feb. in Mem., Corr. & Misc. (1829) IV. 31 Twenty odd times within that term, there was not a speck of a cloud in the whole hemisphere.

1866 J. Rees Foot-prints 326 Reed was an old post-office clerk, who..had been in the office for twenty odd years.

1885 Law Times 79 159/1 The 1300 odd pages..contain much of extreme value.

1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel vi. 55 He gazed at six foot odd of gorgeousness, as represented by Sir Percy Blakeney, Bart.

1935 D. Lamson We who are about to Die ii. 34 A dozen-odd men in gray are in this yard.

1995 New Scientist 1 July 38/2 There are fifty-odd ‘cell adhesion molecules’.

d. Following a numeral denoting age, with the noun ‘years’ understood.

ΚΠ

1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 231 He..who at sev'nty odd forsakes this light.

1750 M. Jones Misc. in Prose & Verse 148 At ninety odd, this happy man Repines, that life is but a span!

1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 385 Your worthy father lived to ninety odd—why not his son?

1826 T. Hood Faithless Sally Brown xvii, in Whims & Oddities 1st Ser. 37 His death, which happen'd in his berth, At forty-odd befell.

1862 W. M. Thackeray Wks. (1872) X. 223 At sixty odd, love, most of the ladies of thy orient race have lost the bloom of youth.

1925 Amer. Mercury May 22/2 A rosy old capitalist of sixty-odd, just back from the oil fields at Tampico.

1978 J. Wain Pardoner's Tale i. 8 I started canoeing when I was about fourteen, and now at forty-odd I still get the same release from it.

1997 C. McPherson Weir 25 He was fifty-odd and still only a sergeant.

5. Mathematics. 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)).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [adjective] > relating to expressions > relating to functions

generating1671

exponential1704

discontinuous1803

functional1806

odd1812

periodic1820

syzygetic1850

convex1858

graphometric1865

polycyclic1869

subrational1875

synectic1876

variational1879

polyhedral1881

holomorphic1886

tropical1887

Gudermannian1888

monogeneous1888

monotonous1890

oscillating1893

monotonic1901

monotone1903

orthogonalized1909

schlicht1925

concave1942

deconvolved1974

unate1978

1812 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 102 55 Indeed, supposing P to be any odd function of μ, we have more generally ∫P.dμ = 0, between the same limits.

1886 A. G. Greenhill Differential & Integral Calculus ii. 80 fx is an odd function, so that f(−x) = −fx.

1969 A. M. Howatson Princ. Appl. Electr. 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.

1984 J. Dunlop & D. G. Smith Telecommunications Engin. i. 7 A function that has no symmetry about the t = 0 axis is neither odd nor even.

II. Senses relating to unevenness or irregularity.

†6.

a. Not even, aligned, or accordant; uneven, unequal, discrepant, diverse, different. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > inequality > [adjective]

unevenOE

unlikea1387

odda1393

unmeeta1393

inequalc1400

inegal1484

impar1535

unegual1542

unequal1565

inequivalent1568

unmatch1570

unegall1589

disequal1622

disparate1764

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 1580 (MED) The word under the coupe of hevene Set every thing or odde or evene.

a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 3034 (MED) Who so biholdeþ þese foure þinges, Al goodnesse out of him springes; For he þat good loue haþ in God, Loue on him-self is not al od.

?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 88 Odde, Dispar, inequalis.

1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 162^v How ferre odde those persones are from the nature of this prince.

1551 Haddon Exhort. Repent. in F. J. Furnivall Ballads from MSS I. 330 Lorde! that their lyves were nothing od Vnto their sayenge that they tell!

1556 R. Robinson tr. T. More Utopia (ed. 2) sig. Aiii The successe and our intent proue thinges farre odde.

1596 M. Roydon Elegie on Astrophel v Upon the branches of those trees, The airie-winged people sat, Distinguished in od degrees, One sort is this, another that.

1697 T. Creech tr. Manilius Five Bks. i The numerous odd variety of things.

b. Having a balance on the wrong side; not even or ‘square’. to be odd with: to fail to be even or ‘quits’ with. Cf. even adj.¹ 1b, 13b Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape

uneven1398

bastard1418

raggedc1450

odd1508

unruled1551

irregular1584

inordinate1667

rambling1676

odd-shaped1704

bizarre1824

scrawled1895

raggedy1896

scrawly1901

free-form1942

the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail in [verb (transitive)] > fail to satisfy expectation, etc. > fail to be even with

to be odd with1508

1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. c Than said bernys bald..We sal evin that is od or end in the pane.

a1529 J. Skelton Poems against Garnesche in Poet Wks. (1843) I. 120 I caste me nat to be od With neythyr of yow tewyne.

c. At variance or strife; at odds (with). Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > dissent > [adjective]

un-i-someOE

unsaughtc1100

unsomec1275

discordant1474

unagreed1525

dissentious1562

odd1562

incompatible1567

disagreeing1583

differing1586

discordful1596

distanced1645

1562 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tounge (new ed.) i. iii, in Wks. 191 Thrift and thou art od.

1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. vii. 149 The generall state I feare, Can scarce entreate you to be odde with him.

†7.

a. Singular in valour, worth, merit, or eminence; unique, remarkable, significant; distinguished, famous, renowned; rare, choice. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > state of being noteworthy or remarkable > [adjective]

specialc1325

notablec1390

oddc1400

notary1421

insignec1465

rial1487

noteworthy1552

signal1591

remarkable1593

of note1596

memorated1631

distinguishable1720

nameable1780

markworthy1799

mad1941

pipperoo1945

ring-a-ding1960

pass-remarkable1974

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > extremely or exceedingly > remarkably or extraordinarily

outnumenlyc1175

outnumenc1225

disguisilyc1325

notablya1398

speciallya1398

oddc1400

oddlyc1400

singularlyc1430

strangelya1450

notable1481

outragec1540

out-takingly1549

supernaturally1578

rarely1581

extraordinarily1593

signally1598

unvulgarly1602

unexpectedly1605

essentially?1606

remarkably1615

unusually1615

particularly1616

eminently1632

extraordinary1632

markablya1634

considerably1646

surprisingly1661

out-of-the-way1718

unco1724

conspicuouslya1732

heroically1735

uncommonly1751

strikingly1752

uncommon1784

pronouncedly1785

markedly1811

awesomea1835

noticeably1845

rousing1847

exceptionally1848

outstandingly1851

prominently1885

accentedly1904

hella1987

c1400 ( Canticum Creatione l. 286 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 127 (MED) Bad me Michel wiþ word od Worschipen þe, or elles god Wolde wrathen me.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 189 Ane of þe oddist Emperours of þe werde.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3783 (MED) Kyng porrus..had assemblid Anoþire ost of odmen him eft on to ride.

a1500 (?c1400) Sir Gowther (Adv.) (1886) 573 (MED) Þo emperour was in þo voward, And Gowþer rode befor is lord, Of knyȝttys was he odde.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 4165 So od men in armys & egur to fight.

a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 47^v For our tyme, the odde man to performe all three perfitlie..is, in my poore opinion, Iohannes Sturmius.

1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. bj^v A Gentleman, (which..for skill in the Mathematicall Sciences, and Languages, is the Od man of this land..).

1592 A. Montgomerie Misc. Poems lv. 3 Good Robert Scot..Vho, vhill thou livd, for honestie wes od.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rebras, Vn entendement à double rebras, an odde head, a notable wit, a terrible pate.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Wales 34 He was an Odde man indeed..for all the Popish party..could not match him with his equal in Learning and Religion.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 249 Where were many Neat Tombs; but the Oddest, because New, was one beset with Young Cypress Trees.

b. That exists or stands alone; single, sole, solitary, singular. by odd: separately, by itself, alone. all and odd: see all adj., pron., n., adv., and conj. Phrases 5g. Obsolete (in later use regional).Cf. sense A. 8b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adjective]

oneeOE

onlepyOE

onlyOE

alonec1175

single1340

soleinc1381

solitaire1382

singularc1384

solec1400

oddc1480

alonelya1513

uncompanieda1547

a-high-lone1565

bird-alone1572

self-one1602

insociate1606

unmated1615

lonesome1647

solo1727

uncompanioned1809

unfellowed1887

Pat Malone1937

the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adverb]

singlya1300

alonely1307

singularlya1340

by oddc1480

solely1582

solitarilya1641

uniquely1831

tout seul1926

c1480 (a1400) St. Blaise 140 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 365 Say nocht of godis, bot of god, fore þat word afferis ay be ode.

?1510 T. More in tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. f.vi As he [sc. God] in souerayne dignite is odd So will he in loue no partyng fellows haue.

1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt 29 If aboue all griefes, a secret griefe there be, that restes in one odde man alone, that sure doth rest in me.

1851 T. Sternberg Dial. & Folk-lore Northants. (at cited word) It was a nice house, but it was so odd; there wasn't a place of worship within three mile.

1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Odd, single.

1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Odd,..single, lonely... ‘Odd kitlin, puppy, pig, chicken, stocking’ &c.

1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Odd, lonely. ‘An odd house’, ‘an odd place’.

a. Extraneous or additional to what is reckoned or taken into account; that is not, or cannot be, reckoned, included, or coordinated with other things; not belonging to any particular total, set, or group; not forming part of a regular series; unconnected; irregular, casual; occurring randomly or haphazardly. odd ends n. odds and ends (see odds n. 7a). odd things n. = odd ends n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being exclusive > [adjective] > not belonging to a category, etc.

odda1450

a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Instr. Parish Priests (Claud.) (1974) 198 Loke also þey make non odde weddynge.

c1475 Chess Probl. in MS Ashm. 344 f. 22 Thus shalt thou bryng in þi odde drawghtes in cas þu be a drawght behynde.

1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Eii There sekinge about for od endes, [he] at length founde a lytle whystell of syluer.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. ii. sig. Cc.iij^v/1 Vnhonest sparing of euery odd halfpenie.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 335 Old odde ends stolne out of holy writ.

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 12 Give him leave to sell all his rags, and odde-ends.

1656 A. Cowley Brutus in Pindaric Odes v When we see perish thus by odd Events, Ill men, and wretched Accidents, The best Cause.

1707 W. Funnell Voy. round World ii. 33 This second Prize, after we had taken out a few odd Things, was..dismist.

1717 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1890) VIII. 171 One oak chest, one arm chair with some other odd householdments within the Township.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xii. ix. 255 Containing little more than a few odd Observations.

1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 131 Odd rain-drops damp'd his face.

1844 C. C. Moore Poems 49 A lively lass Was playing songs and waltzes, and odd ends Of fav'rite melodies.

1871 C. Gibbon For Lack of Gold i They had come to see what odd pence they could pick up.

1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield (at cited word) An odd child is an illegitimate child.

1949 D. M. Davin Roads from Home iii. i. 210 He'd still be able to save the odd quid.

1961 H. Gregory Sel. Poems (1964) 169 She would ask nothing of me Except odd ends of gossip.

1966 C. Bukowski Let. 6 Apr. in Screams from Balcony (1998) 250 All the odd things, haircut, buy shoes, get a tooth pulled, [etc.].

1998 Strad July 709/2 Many pieces suffer from the odd sour note or from untidy position changes.

b. Of a place: situated apart from the general body of a larger place or thing; out of the way. Chiefly in odd corner. Cf. sense A. 7b. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > place > [noun] > set apart or out of the way

anglea1325

nooka1425

retreatc1500

odd corner1576

recess1611

off-corner1793

cubby1868

1576 A. Fleming tr. J. L. Vives in Panoplie Epist. 402 Being but a private man, and shutt up close in an odde corner.

1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 10 Vs to this od corner thee wynd tempestuus hurled.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 224 In an odde Angle of the Isle.

1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 645 He was constrained to..seeke odde corners for his safety.

1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. Concl. 332 By the time of Justinian..the penal law had been crammed into an odd corner of the civil.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 105 From some odd corner of the brain.

1877 H. James American x. 167 The room was illumined..by half a dozen candles, placed in odd corners, at a great distance apart.

1911 K. D. Wiggin Mother Carey xiv. 124 Dozens of shelves in odd spaces helped much in the tidy stowing away of household articles.

1965 P. Wayre Wind in Reeds xi. 156 Little pockets of phragmites had sprung up in the odd corners and shallow bays all round the main [gravel] pit.

2001 Org. Gardening Jan. 12/3 The former two [sc. courgettes and tomatoes] are..in odd corners elsewhere in the garden, while radishes will be catch-cropped wherever space arises.

†c. Extra; given over and above. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus i. iii. 349 You shall haue 40 shillings and an odde pottle of wine.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet v. ii. 138 I will winne for him and I can, if not, I will gaine nothing but my shame, and the odde hits.

d. That forms part of an incomplete pair or set; used esp. of garments (as socks, gloves, etc.). Also applied to either or both of a pair of non-matching items. Cf. sense A. 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > [adjective] > forming part of an incomplete set

odd1611

1611 Inventory Lynning & Goodes at Cockesden 28 Feb. in Anc. Inventories illustr. Domestic Manners Eng. (1854) 62 Seaven parre of course sheetes, and one odd sheet.

1703 G. Farquhar Twin-rivals iii. 31 Mr. Alderman, han't you the fellow to this Glove,..it looks so like a Challenge to give a Man an odd Glove.

1745 B. Franklyn Ess., Articles, Bagatelles, & Lett. 302 He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors.

1764 S. Foote Patron i. 19 With what stock did you trade? I can give you the catalogue... Two odd volumes of Swift; the Life of Moll Flanders [etc.].

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 215/2 Sellers of odd numbers of periodicals and broadsheets.

1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. xii. 174 I hate to have odd gloves! Never mind, the other may be found.

1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood iii. 13 Odd volumes of dismal books.

1917 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring–Summer 242/3 Men's odd tweed vests..in a variety of patterns, as they are made from ends.

1933 A. G. Macdonell England, their England v. 61 A broken umbrella, odd shoes, books, newspapers,..photographs and pictures, were all crammed into another suitcase.

1993 Belfast Tel. Mar. (BNC) The man's wife had wasted no time going through his closets picking up worn and odd pairs [of socks].

e. Applied to a point in or interval of time: occurring casually or irregularly, esp. between periods of fixed occupation; occasional.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > [adjective] > intervening

middlea1200

meana1382

interloping1603

interim1604

intercurrent1611

odd1618

intermediate1623

intervenient1629

intermedian1656

interveninga1781

interstitial1841

1618 in J. Imrie & J. G. Dunbar Accts. Masters of Wks. (1982) II. 119 To the barrowmen to beir up the sparis fra the nether baillie quhen they sould haif restit at ther od houris.

1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 5 They may have easily learnt at any odde hour the Italian tongue.

1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality I. vii. 293 Our principal Diet was weak Tea and Bread, and, if we ventured, at odd Times, on a small Joint of Meat, it served us cold, hashed and minced, from one Week to the other.

1819 T. Arnold Let. 29 Nov. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) I. ii. 56 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.

a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 246/2 There was in those days a Mr. Way,..whom, it should seem, he had been in the habit of employing to read to him at odd times.

1893 A. Jessopp Stud. Recluse Pref. 9 The great teachers are not they who pick up their knowledge at odd moments.

1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 42/2 Simple recreation in those odd Sundays and in his few weekday hours of leisure.

1937 Manch. Guardian 5 May 8/4 Doodling is fidgeting about pictorially with a pen or pencil at odd moments to pass the time.

1996 TNT Mag. 8 July 156/2 (advt.) Flexi hours + extra pay for the odd weekends work in the country.

f. Not forming part of a regular course of work. Chiefly in odd job n. Also applied to a person or animal employed in doing occasional or irregular work, as odd hand, odd lad, odd-timer, etc. (now chiefly regional).See also odd man n., odd-horse n. at Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1704 T. Baker Act at Oxf. ii. ii. 17 She..owes her Joyner above a hundred Pounds for odd-Jobs.

1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Oct. xxii. 149 The Odd-man's Wages is from fifty Shillings, to four Pounds a Year.

1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. vii. 90 I was..odd-boy about the forge.

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.

1871 Lady M. A. Barker Christmas Cake in Four Quarters iv. i. 247 Shearers and musterers, and all the odd hands which flock to a station at shearing-time.

1894 Northumberland Words 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.

1925 A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose i. xviii. 113 She's an odd-timer on Miss Marr's typist staff.

1937 E. Garnett Family from One End St. i. 13 She occasionally did odd work to ‘oblige’ Mrs. Theobald, the Vicar's wife.

1947 Scots Mag. Apr. 12 He'll stert off for an odd laddie when he leaves the schule an' never get off a ferm.

1986 K. Juby In Other Words—David Bowie (BNC) He didn't have two beans to rub together. He was doing a bit of odd work here and there on an ad hoc basis.

a. Of persons, their actions, etc.: strange in behaviour or appearance; peculiar; eccentric; unexpected.See also odd bod n., odd body n. at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [adjective] > not conforming to standard behaviour

irregular1395

unformalc1449

informalc1475

disordered1561

monstrous1568

odd1577

irregulate1579

exorbitant1613

free-spirited1613

exorbitating1632

inconformable1633

extravagant1650

inconform1659

eccentric1685

unconformable1702

outrageous1778

unconventional1840

erratic1841

kinky1844

Bohemian1846

radical1869

Bohemic1874

nonconforming1899

hard case1904

jazz1917

offbeat1922

deviant1935

deviate1945

oddball1945

left field1951

way out1955

boho1958

non-conformant1960

sideways1969

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > slightly mad > eccentric or cranky

fantastical1531

odd1577

eccentric1685

fanaticized1827

cranky1850

bee-bonneted1856

cornery1887

screwy1887

kinky1889

crankish1892

ratty1895

batchy1898

batsc1901

batty1903

potty1920

offbeat1922

off-centre1930

wacky1935

screwball1936

up the creek1941

oddball1945

wackadoo1958

kooky1959

wiggy1963

flaky1964

nutball1968

woo-woo1971

wacko1977

off-kilter1985

wackadoodle1993

fantastic-

1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt f.11^v I now muste leaue you all (alas) And liue with some, odde lobcocke Asse!

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. i. 13 He is too picked, to spruce, too affected, to od as it were.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. i. 72 So odde, and from all fashions, As Beatrice is.

a1640 J. Day & H. Chettle Blind-beggar (1659) sig. F1 There's an odde fellow snuffels i' the nose, that shows a motion about Bishopsgate.

1679 L. Addison First State Mahumedism 33 Going up and down after an odd distracted manner.

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 14. ⁋1 An odd Fellow, whose Face I have often seen at the Playhouse, gave me the following Letter.

1743 H. Fielding Ess. Conversat. in Misc. I. 130 One of these [philosophers], when he appears..among us, is distinguished..by the Name of an odd Fellow.

1796 Ld. Nelson Let. 18 Aug. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 243 Maurice Suckling..may be odd, but I believe none will do more real good with the estate.

1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. iii. 38 If they got tired of me, they might talk to one another, and laugh at my odd ways behind my back.

1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) i. 24 The advancing man..finds that the poet was no odd fellow who described strange and impossible situations.

1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 38 The village people thought her odd, and were a little afraid of her.

1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life vii. 287 I often find myself a bit odd—negligent, and forgetful, and sort of imbecile.

1937 J. Agate Diary 5 Dec. in Selective Ego (1976) 94 These odd people—people are ‘odd’ when their peculiarities are not one's own.

1955 E. Blishen Roaring Boys i. 66 I found that the oddest boys take a pride in their skill at arithmetic.

2002 N.Y. Times 27 Feb. b7/2 The inmates and the staff at the Kincaid Institute range from odd to mad.

b. Of things: differing in character from what is ordinary, usual, normal, or expected; out of the ordinary; extraordinary, strange, peculiar; unexpected, surprising.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd

quaintc1325

awkc1440

queer?a1513

odd1578

quaintish1594

odd-conceiteda1616

odd-ceited1652

whimsical1675

singulara1684

eccentric1685

oddish1705

rummish1709

comical1713

odd-like1718

rum1750

queerish1775

funny1793

quare1805

rummy1828

kinky1844

quirkish1848

quirky1873

odd-gates1906

funny-peculiar1916

antrin1925

off-brand1929

fanciful-

1578 T. Churchyard Disc. Queenes Entertainem. sig. Ciij^v Some odde deuice shall meete hir highnesse streight, To make hir smyle, and ease hir burthened brest.

1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie lviii. 349 To the end they might not vse any odde shiftes to keepe their naughtinesse from discouering.

a1592 H. Smith Serm. in Wks. (1866) II. 84 Amongst the heathen they had many odd conceits.

1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 121 Women writing seldome, makes it seem strange, and what is unusuall, seemes Fantasticall, and what is Fantasticall, seemes odd, and what seemes odd, Ridiculous.

1679 L. Addison First State Mahumedism sig. Aij^v Though many odde things are here set down of this Imposter, yet they are all own'd by his Sectaries.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 72. ¶2 He was a Member of the Everlasting Club. So very odd a Title raised my Curiosity.

1712 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. Jan. (1965) I. 114 I have the oddest Jumble of disagreable things in my head that ever plagu'd poor mortals.

1772 T. Simpson Compl. Vermin-killer i Some may think it odd for a man to sit down and write on so trifling a subject as vermin.

1816 J. Austen Emma III. xi. 404 Is this not the oddest news?.. Did you ever hear any thing so strange?

1852 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. xiii. 243 An odd circumstance is that the oak-leaves this year are falling as soon as those of the elm.

1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. ix. 333 (note) It is odd that they are not spoken of.

1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xiii. 126 The more she talks and the odder the things she says, the more he's delighted evidently.

1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 204 And now there was this odd friendship with Miss Kilman.

1942 C. Headlam Diary 7 May in S. Ball Parl. & Politics in Age Churchill & Atlee (1999) viii. 311 It is odd how all and sundry appear to be obsessed with the idea that the Russians are going to beat the Germans and then ‘steam roll’ into Berlin.

1994 A. L. Kennedy Now that you're Back 51 I couldn't say what was wrong about it and we made no fuss at the time, but the atmosphere was odd.

c. Of a material thing: fantastic, grotesque; peculiar or strange in appearance, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > strange > specifically in appearance

uncouth1513

odd1596

wilda1616

weird1816

1596 T. Churchyard Pleasant Disc. Court & Wars sig. A4 A glasse of steele in some od case, Where each man may see his owne face.

1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania ii. 167 Seeing her strange odde attire, gessing by her speech to be as vaine, as her apparrell was phantasticall,..hee said [etc.].

a1652 I. Jones in B. Allsopp & R. A. Sayce Inigo Jones on Palladio (1970) II. iv. 93 This baacement..doth well enough but yt is somwhat odde.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xviii. 517 He busied himself in making a Chest, with 4 boards... It was but an ill shaped odd thing.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 120. ⁋4 Her eyes..had odd Casts in them.

1760 G. Edwards Gleanings Nat. Hist. II. 153 The larger Fish I call the Spur-fish, from the two odd pectinated sharp-pointed..spurs on its upper and under sides.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 140 The Horse shoe Bat, with an odd protuberance round its upper lip, somewhat in the form of an horse-shoe.

1836 J. Murray Hand-bk. for Travellers on Continent 438/1 In the garden of the château is an odd, many-sided building resembling a Chinese temple.

1858 C. Dickens Let. 29 Aug. (1995) VIII. 644 It is the oddest carriage in the world.

1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 110 I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampy trees.

1917 E. R. Burroughs Princess of Mars viii. 73 Upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight.

1964 Road & Track Jan. 22/2 The gears are selected by an odd curved floor stalk which fouls the passenger seat but they go in all right.

1992 Tucson (Arizona) Weekly 21 Dec. 11/2 Valle revs up the engine of his air boat, an odd contraption that resembles a time machine.

B. n.¹

a. An odd number, or an odd-numbered thing; (with the and plural agreement) †odd numbers as a class; (also) †the numerical property of oddness (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > parity > oddness

odda1398

oddnessa1398

imparity1646

gnomon1660

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 238^v Oon is moder of pluralite and cause of euene and odde [L. imparitatis], for if þou settest oon to an odde nombre nedes þu makest an euene nombre.

c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 47 (MED) Al-weyes fro the last ode me shalle begynne.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. iii. 59 Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen.

1610 E. Bolton Elements of Armories 182 One is onely best: next to that the Trias, Ternio, or number three, and so the rest of the Odde to Fifteen.

1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 149 Nemesis, Who with even matches odd.

1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 328 Just as the odd is a part of number, and number is a more extended notion than the odd.

1979 M. Hammer Learn to play Mah Jongg ii. 35 The next step is to evaluate which tiles are more prevalent—odds, evens, winds, singles, pairs.

1990 E. Harth Dawn of Millennium (1991) i. 16 We were divided into two groups, odds and evens... The evens faced the street and the motorcade, the odds faced the crowd.

b. odds and (also or) evens (also odd and even, odd or even): any of various games, usually played by children, esp. a guessing game involving a random number of objects concealed in a player's hand. Now chiefly archaic, U.S., and British regional. †to go odd or even: to play such a game as a means of determining something (obsolete).See also earlier even or odd at even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 4d.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > other games of chance > [noun]

even or odd1538

love1585

Jack-in-the-box?1593

under-hat1629

pluck-penny1643

morra1659

catch-dolt1674

shuffle-cap1712

fair chance1723

E O1751

teetotum1753

rondo1821

cut-throat1823

hop-my-fool1824

odds and evens1841

spin-'em-round1851

halfpenny under the hat1853

racehorses1853

fan-tan1878

tan1883

pakapoo1886

legality1888

petits chevaux1891

pai gow1906

boule1911

put and take1921

c1625 T. Heywood tr. Ovid De Arte Amandi iii. 80 To passe the night at balliards till eleauen, At pickapandie, cards, or odd or euen.

1746 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Satires ii. iii. 255 Suppose, in childish Architecture skill'd, A bearded Sage his Castle-Cottage build; Play odd and even; ride his reedy Cane, And yoke his harness'd Mice, 'tis Madness plain.

1796 F. Reynolds Fortune's Fool v. 66 Here (putting money in his hand, and shutting it.)—odd or even for a hundred.

1820 W. Tooke in tr. Lucian Lucian of Samosata I. 549 (note) Some games that were in use at Athens, as dice, cockal, odd and even.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxvii. 149 They presently fell to pitch and toss, chuck-farthing, odd or even.

a1869 C. Spence From Braes of Carse (1898) 93 Ye who have often played with Will At odds and evens for a gill.

1870 T. Archer in Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. Suppl. 22 I'll be bound he isn't in his room at all; come, let's go odd or even who shall go and see.

1908 Judge's Libr. Mar. (caption) Well, mate, let's go odd or even to see who's got to eat it.

1953 P. G. Brewster Amer. Nonsinging Games 7 Odd or Even, This game is to be found in all parts of the country.

1969 I. Opie & P. Opie Children's Games vi. 186 The most common of these races is ‘Odds and Evens’, in which the starter..calls out either ‘Odd’ or ‘Even’, and a number.

1972 R. Adams Watership Down xxxi. 236 A very simple kind of gambling, on the lines of ‘Odds or Evens’.

1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 20 May ‘But what..was the game they were playing?’ ‘Odd or even... Betting on whether the chapter that comes up when you flip will be odd or even.’

1991 J. Phillips You'll never eat Lunch in this Town Again (1992) 107 We shoot best two-out-of-three odds and evens every night for who has to sleep in the drawer.

2004 N.Y. Times 26 Jan. b2/5 Me: ‘Let's choose for it. Odds and evens?’ Him: ‘No. Rock paper.’

2. An odd person or thing (in various senses). Now usually with the: that which is odd; odd persons or things collectively.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [noun] > oddness > that which is odd

drollity1639

oddness1713

oddity1739

odd1830

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 505 (MED) Noe of uche honest kynde nem out an odde.

1611 ‘G. Vadianus’ in T. Coryate Crudities sig. l2 ^v Tom is a twinne, and yet an Odde, and both.

1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. ii. vii. 135 I have now and then meddled with an odd or an end.

1833 T. B. Macaulay Horace Walpole in Edinb. Rev. Oct. 238 With the Sublime and the Beautiful Walpole had nothing to do..the Odd, was his peculiar domain.

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.

1988 Nature 17 Nov. 283/2 The so-called ‘scientific’ explanations which scientists..often devise to explain, or explain away, the odd, the marvellous, the praeternatural and the paranormal.

1997 N.Y. Times 24 July c18/1 There are still glimpses..of her Seinfeldian eye for the odd.

3. Golf. A stroke that brings a player's score for a hole to one more than his or her opponent. Frequently in to play the odd. Cf. like n.¹ 6. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > odds or handicaps

handicap1871

odd1881

scratch1897

mulligan1936

1881 R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 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.

1899 W. Camp & L. Brooks Drives & Puts iv. 85 Tom playing the odd, put a ball just this side of the green, and Hugh, on the like, made a beautiful iron.

1921 A. Kirkaldy Fifty Yrs. Golf 65 The American had the terrible uphill battle to fight, of playing the odd for his second shot all the way round.

1946 F. Moran Golfers' Gallery ix. 97 Fischer had the advantage from the tee..because it had the Scot playing the odd.

1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf 178 In so doing, he would play the odd.

C. adv.

†1.

a. = oddly adv. 3. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adverb] > particular qualities > not evenly

odda1398

oddly1570

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 282^v Hors beþ y-cleped equi..ffor þey beþ y-ioyned and y-coupled in cartes oþer in Chariettes euene and nought odde.

b. So as to be separate or distinct; separately, singly. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > separation or isolation > [adverb]

odd1567

out1607

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 4570 Long peeles..fast in Temse did þam stake..agayn þe schippes stod ilk an od.

1567 P. Beverley in G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello Certaine Tragicall Disc. sig. xx.ij Wherin he lyues so odde from right and lawe.

1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued vi I meane professors of the trueth, How far yet live they od!

1862 A. McGilvray Poems (ed. 2) 157 You could not think on sitting odd, 'Mong decent men.

1876 ‘P. Pyper’ Mr. Gray & Neighbours ‘We lives odd, yer honour, in a tent’. ‘Living odd’..means in Marshland phraseology living in a house standing by itself.

†2. Extraordinarily, very; truly. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very

tooc888

swith971

wellOE

fullOE

rightc1175

muchc1225

wellac1275

gainlya1375

endlyc1440

hard?1440

very1448

odda1500

great1535

jolly1549

fellc1600

veryvery1649

gooda1655

vastly1664

strange1667

bloody1676

ever so1686

heartily1727

real1771

precious1775

quarely1805

murry1818

très1819

freely1820

powerfula1822

gurt1824

almighty1830

heap1832

all-fired1833

gradely1850

real1856

bonny1857

heavens1858

veddy1859

canny1867

some1867

oh-so1881

storming1883

spanking1886

socking1896

hefty1898

velly1898

fair dinkum1904

plurry1907

Pygmalion1914

dinkum1915

beaucoup1918

dirty1920

molto1923

snorting1924

honking1929

hellishing1931

thumpingly1948

way1965

mega1966

mondo1968

seriously1970

totally1972

mucho1978

stonking1990

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 159 (MED) These kynges were odde noble knyghtes.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 7466 His armour was od good.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 10839 Pantasilia..That honerable Ector od myche louyt.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 9597 Deffibus..Pletid vnto Paris..Whether the Duke were od dede.

3. = oddly adv. 4. Now nonstandard.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adverb] > oddly

odd1603

oddlya1616

quirkishly1673

queerly1698

singularly1752

quarely1805

rumly1819

funnily1837

peculiarly1847

funny1852

rummily1891

quirkily1926

off1966

1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 171 How strange or odde soere I beare my selfe.

a1869 C. Spence From Braes of Carse (1898) 195 Wha e'er of silken gouns shall bode Will get a sleeve, or things gae odd.

1956 B. Frechtman tr. H. Noma Zone of Emptiness xv. 223 Sergeant, don't you think that Soda's been acting odd?

1998 A. Warner Sopranos 261 Michelle McLaughlin looked a bit odd in Kay's direction.

Compounds

C1.

a. Parasynthetic.

(a) (In sense A. 2.)

odd-numbered adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > odd

odda1398

imparc1430

uneven1577

unequal1697

odd-numbered1850

1850 Jrnl. Constit. Convent. of Michigan 87 The senators chosen by odd numbered districts shall go out of office at the expiration of two years.

1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xx. 445 James proved that the sum of the odd-numbered terms is to the sum of the even-numbered terms as 2ⁿ − 1 is to 1.

2001 FHM Feb. 173/1 TV pictures are made up in two stages—all the odd-numbered horizontal lines appear first and the even numbered ones second.

odd-toed adj.

ΚΠ

1848 R. Owen in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 4 i. 127 Odd-toed (perissodactyle) Pachyderms.

1872 H. A. Nicholson Man. Palæontol. 424 The hind feet are odd-toed.

1970 R. M. Black Elements Palaeontol. xviii. 290 The living members of this group, sometimes referred to as the ‘odd-toed’ ungulates, include the horse, zebra and rhinoceros.

1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus xi. 181 The formerly dominant order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates.

(b) (In sense A. 9.)

† odd-conceited adj. Obsolete

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd

quaintc1325

awkc1440

queer?a1513

odd1578

quaintish1594

odd-conceiteda1616

odd-ceited1652

whimsical1675

singulara1684

eccentric1685

oddish1705

rummish1709

comical1713

odd-like1718

rum1750

queerish1775

funny1793

quare1805

rummy1828

kinky1844

quirkish1848

quirky1873

odd-gates1906

funny-peculiar1916

antrin1925

off-brand1929

fanciful-

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. vii. 46 Ile knit it vp in silken strings, With twentie od-conceited true-loue knots.

1678 E. Ravenscroft Eng. Lawyer iv. i. 49 Euh, what an odd conceited fellow was this!

odd-humoured adj.

ΚΠ

1611 ‘G. Vadianus’ in T. Coryate Crudities sig. l^v A musicall note containing foure odde humoured crochets.

1665 M. Nedham Medela Medicinæ 41 If an odd-humor'd disease happen.

1984 Sports Illustr. (Nexis) 19 Mar. 20 Thompson at his gruff, meanspirited, iconoclastic and odd-humored best.

odd-mannered adj.

ΚΠ

1866 Galaxy 15 Oct. 312 A freckled brown skin, and red hair, and large mouth, and so odd-mannered.

1991 A. Hankinson First Bull Run 3 Their candidate was a big, strong, gangling, odd-mannered frontiersman.

odd-peaked adj.

ΚΠ

1955 J. Cahill Experiences Smaller Stores 145 The two-storied gray shingled building with odd-peaked roof has been somewhat modernized.

odd-shaped adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > [adjective] > having odd shape

odd-shaped1704

the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape

uneven1398

bastard1418

raggedc1450

odd1508

unruled1551

irregular1584

inordinate1667

rambling1676

odd-shaped1704

bizarre1824

scrawled1895

raggedy1896

scrawly1901

free-form1942

1704 W. Brodie Let. 6 Mar. in R. Wodrow Early Lett. xxv He [sc. a virtuoso] is ravished at finding an uncommon shell or an odd shaped stone.

1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour iii. xiv. 73 An irregular mass of towers, turrets, and odd-shaped chimneys.

1997 Naše Rodina June 52/1 Vases, teapots..and other odd-shaped pieces are..made from molds.

† odd sighted adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 505 What an odd sighted Examiner I have to deal with; that..can see in Books what never was there.

odd-tempered adj.

ΚΠ

1768 J. Cremer Jrnl. 19 July in R. R. Bellamy Ramblin' Jack (1936) 142 My Aunt..was an od Tempered woman for me to live with.

1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers III. xv. 255 The skill of this odd-tempered, shabby old man was sometimes sought by the jeweller who kept the more ostentatious shop in the High Street.

1918 M. A. Lowndes Out of the War? vi. 91 She had given herself up entirely to the pleasant..task of cheering up the odd-tempered and queer-natured naval officer whom Fate had flung across her path.

2002 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 19 May 11 If High Pitched wasn't already such a valuable stud prospect it would be worth making him a castrato to clear up the odd-tempered nonsense he shows before his races.

b. The adjective or adverb with a participle.

† odd contrived adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1653 J. Collinges Responsoria ad Erratica Piscatoris 6 There were some judicious and sober men were against tying up minds to forms, the same form constantly, and such an odd-contrived forme as that was.

a1682 Sir T. Browne Certain Misc. Tracts (1683) vii. 127 If he delighteth in odd contrived phancies.

odd-looking adj.

ΚΠ

1724 E. Ward Dancing Devils 52 Again comes merry Harlequin, Disguis'd like an odd looking Fellow.

1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home I. 19 The bobtailed coat and mixed trousers constituted a very odd-looking court-dress.

1996 E. Lovelace Salt ii. 13 A stranger, asking for work, odd-looking beside the labouring men in raggedy work clothes.

odd-sounding adj.

ΚΠ

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 45 Such far-fetch'd and odd-sounding Expressions.

1853 E. C. Gaskell Cranford vii. 131 There she sat, as stately and composed as though we had never heard that odd-sounding cough.

1988 G. Somerset Sunshine & Shadow 139 Any persons with an odd sounding name were sent to the immigration barracks.

† odd-thinking adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1717 M. Prior Alma iii. 47 Some odd-thinking youth, Less friend to doctrine than to truth.

† odd-turned adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 47 He had an odd-turned mind, and a bad heart.

c. The adjective prefixed to a noun, forming a phrase used attributively.

odd-number adj.

ΚΠ

1922 F. F. Potter Teaching of Arithm. xvii. 325 The simple odd-number series.

1996 Jrnl. Appl. Ecol. 33 270/2 One pitfall trap..was placed at all odd-number trap stations..and Sherman live traps were placed at the remaining stations.

odd-order adj.

ΚΠ

1901 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 202 The higher odd-order derivatives.

1991 Acta Metallurgica et Materialia 39 2640/1 Odd order coefficients obtained by fitting Gaussian components to the experimental data were added.

odd-parity adj.

ΚΠ

1950 R. W. Hamming in Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. 29 150 Had we used an odd number of 1's to determine the setting of the check position it would have been an odd parity check.

1967 Bodl. Libr. Rec. 8 3 The second drawback is the use of an odd-parity code, with seven-hole punching necessary for a plain tape-feed.

1996 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 452 1173 The particle will end up predominantly in the first excited state, i.e. in the lowest (single-node) odd-parity state.

C2.

odd-and-end adj. now rare consisting of odds and ends (see odds n. 7); miscellaneous.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective] > miscellaneous or heterogeneous > incongruously mixed

medleya1400

intermellé1487

farraginary1538

hotchpotch1556

promiscuous1579

hotchpot1588

pied1594

motley1601

hodge-podge1602

promiscual1602

macaronic1611

farraginous1616

throughother1626

mishmash1652

promiscous1656

hotchpotchly1674

hodge-podging1772

hashy1781

mixty-maxty1786

motleyed1798

gallimaufrical1836

odd-and-end1836

chow-chow1844

speckled1845

ragbag1882

disherent1890

1836 F. W. Thomas East & West I. xxiii. 219 Sam, who played the fiddle at parties, and did odd-and-end jobs about, by which he lived.

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.

1986 18th-cent. Stud. 20 108 Dietze indicates odd-and-end passages that give rise to uncertainty about interpretation of the texts.

odd bod n. [shortened < odd body n.: compare bod n.¹] colloquial a person who is odd, strange, or eccentric.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > slight madness > crankiness or eccentricity > person

fantastical1589

fantastic1598

earwig brain1599

extravagant1627

fanatic1644

energumen1660

original1675

toy-pate1702

gig1777

quiz1780

quoz?1780

rum touch1800

crotcheteer1815

pistol1828

eccentric1832

case1833

originalist1835

cure1856

crotchet-monger1874

curiosity1874

crank1881

crackpot1883

faddist1883

schwärmer1884

hard case1892

finger1899

mad hatter1905

nut1908

numéro1924

screwball1933

wack1938

fruitcake1942

odd bod1942

oddball1943

ghoster1953

raver1959

kook1960

flake1968

woo-woo1972

zonky1972

wacko1977

headbanger1981

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [noun] > oddness > odd person

singularist1593

singularitan1615

queer fellow1712

oddity1731

unaccountable1748

character1773

rum1788

eccentric1832

card1835

card1853

hard case1892

queer shot1900

rummy1909

hard thing1918

hardshot1924

quaint1939

odd bod1942

oddball1943

joker in the pack1963

quirky1975

1942 T. Kitching Diary 28 May in Life & Death in Changi (1998) vi. 101 Two hundred more are coming in, some say from Padang and Sumatra... Others say they are odd-bods from all over the place.

1975 ‘J. Bell’ Victim iv. 53 A lot of odd-bod geriatrics that'd all be better off in the grave.

1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 285 We get some Guild people and one or two odd bods like the woman who tries to encourage children to act.

odd body n. a person who does not fit into any grouping or category; (now) esp. one who is strange or eccentric.

ΚΠ

1724 J. Gay Lett. (1966) 47 In all probability some odd Bodys, being left out we shall soon have the pleasure of being divided into Factions.

1801 W. Dimond Sea-side Story i. ii. 25 Here's the strangest odd body of an Irish gentlewoman down stairs, that ever I saw.

1985 W. Sheed Frank & Maisie viii. 194 The tutors themselves were nice oddbodies, one with black hair and a red beard who argued after-hours about theocracy.

† odd-ceited adj. Obsolete = odd-conceited adj. at Compounds 1a(b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd

quaintc1325

awkc1440

queer?a1513

odd1578

quaintish1594

odd-conceiteda1616

odd-ceited1652

whimsical1675

singulara1684

eccentric1685

oddish1705

rummish1709

comical1713

odd-like1718

rum1750

queerish1775

funny1793

quare1805

rummy1828

kinky1844

quirkish1848

quirky1873

odd-gates1906

funny-peculiar1916

antrin1925

off-brand1929

fanciful-

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew iv. i. sig. L1^v I have heard much of this old od-ceited Justice Clack.

odd-even adj. relating to or involving an odd number and an even number; (Nuclear Physics) designating nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an even number of neutrons.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective] > relating to mass number

odd-even1899

odd-odd1924

1899 H. E. Cushman tr. W. Windelband Hist. Anc. Philos. a. xxiv. 96 In this way the Pythagorean system got a dualistic cast, which is noticeable in all its parts; but this was theoretically overcome by the fact that since the One, the odd-even primitive number, creates both series from itself, so also all the antitheses of the cosmic life are in a grand harmonious unity.

1949 G. Gamow & C. L. Critchfield Theory Atomic Nucleus iv. 88 δA = 0 for even-even nuclei, = 1 for odd-even nuclei, = 2 for odd-odd nuclei.

1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 7280/1 For the 28 bands of even-odd or odd-even nuclei in the tables, the extra n or p is considered to occupy an s orbital.

1996 R. Swettenham in J. Borwick Sound Recording Pract. (ed. 4) vii. 156 In some lowerpriced consoles the number of buttons is halved and labelled ‘1-2’, etc., with further ‘odd-even’ switches.

odd-gates adj. [compare gate n.² 9b] regional odd, strange, out of the way.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd

quaintc1325

awkc1440

queer?a1513

odd1578

quaintish1594

odd-conceiteda1616

odd-ceited1652

whimsical1675

singulara1684

eccentric1685

oddish1705

rummish1709

comical1713

odd-like1718

rum1750

queerish1775

funny1793

quare1805

rummy1828

kinky1844

quirkish1848

quirky1873

odd-gates1906

funny-peculiar1916

antrin1925

off-brand1929

fanciful-

1906 R. Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 263 Won'erful odd-gates place—Romney Marsh.

1957 H. Hall Parish's Dict. Sussex Dial. (new ed.) 88/2 Oddgaits, extraordinary. ‘It's an odd-gaits sort of place.’

odd-horse n. (a) regional a horse employed in doing odd jobs (see sense A. 8f); †(b) = odd man out n. (a) at odd man n. Compounds (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > choosing by casting lots > specific mode of singling out by lot

odd man1743

odd-horse1801

odd man out1840

1801 Sporting Mag. 19 115 No cards, dice, odd-horse, or tossing-up to be permitted.

1894 Northumberland Words The horse he [sc. the odd-laddy] drives is called the odd-horse.

a1903 D. W. Lewin in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 324/2 [Kent] They take the odd horse for that.

† odd-mark n. Obsolete regional that portion of the arable land which is set apart for a particular crop on a farm operating crop rotation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > broken land > arable or ploughed land > portion for specific crop

odd-mark1804

1804 J. Duncumb Coll. Hist. County Hereford I. 214 The odd-mark, one third of the arable land of a farm.

1855 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 16 ii. 557 Supposing his oddmark of wheat about 20 acres..he sacrificed the full amount of the half year's rent.

1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 306 Odd-mark, that portion of the arable land of a farm set apart for a particular crop as it comes in order of rotation.

odd-odd adj. relating to or involving two odd numbers; (Nuclear Physics) designating nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an odd number of neutrons.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective] > relating to mass number

odd-even1899

odd-odd1924

1924 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 46 151 All the..odd-odd transvectants of the double form F with itself will vanish identically.

1937 Physical Rev. 51 951/2 The condition..for the instability of odd-odd nuclei should read g + 2gσ < gm.

1967 New Scientist 21 Sept. 598/2 The new mendelevium isotope, with 101 protons and 157 neutrons, falls into the odd-odd class.

1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 7278/1 The even-odd, odd-even, and odd-odd nuclei have extra p, n, or pn in an orbital such as s with no orbital angular momentum.

odd-pinnate adj. Botany (of a leaf) pinnate with an odd terminal leaflet.

ΚΠ

1859 A. Gray How Plants Grow i. 52 Odd-pinnate, when there is an odd leaflet at the end, as in the Common Locust..and in the Ash.

1975 R. H. Mohlenbrock Guide to Vascular Flora Illinois 278 Leaves odd-pinnate.

odd trick n. Cards (in Whist) the thirteenth trick, won by one side after each side has won six; (in Bridge) each trick after six won by the declarer; also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > whist > [noun] > actions or tactics > tricks or taking tricks

odd trick1710

slam1755

bumper1791

sweep1879

1710 Brit. Apollo 13–15 Feb. The Party..got..the Odd Trick.

1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ix. 328 It is not necessary then that he should have bowels for the poor, so he can secure for his family the odd trick.

1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. vii. 154 Being just then in the happy leisure which followed securing the odd trick by Sir Thomas's capital play and her own, against Dr. and Mrs. Grant's great hands.

1886 J. Collinson Biritch 3 The odd tricks count as follows:—If ‘Biritch’ is declared each [odd trick counts] 10 points.

1900 R. F. Foster Bridge Man. 55 A player should always go over when he has any chance for the odd trick.

1990 D. Parlett Oxf. Guide Card Games xvii. 215 Players bid against their opponents by raising the numbers of odd tricks they are offering to win in order to advance their score.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	odd
释义	oddn.² Brit. /ɒd/, U.S. /ɑd/, Scottish English /ɔd/ Forms: 1800s– odd, 1900s– oddi (Scottish (Shetland)). Origin: Probably partly a borrowing from early Scandinavian. Probably partly a borrowing from Norn. Etymology: Probably the reflex of a borrowing < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic oddi , Faroese oddi , Norwegian odde , Swedish udde , Old Danish oddæ (Danish odde ), all in the same sense) < an n -stem derivative of the Scandinavian base of Old Icelandic oddr (see ord n.). In Shetland use < the unattested Norn reflex of the early Scandinavian word represented by the Scandinavian forms listed above.The word is early attested in place names, as Odd juxta Ravenserre (1235–49, East Riding, Yorkshire, now lost; also Ravenserot (1251), Odrauenser (1260), etc.), Green Odd (1774; now Greenodd, Lancashire: compare quot. 1869). English regional (northern) and Scottish (chiefly Shetland). A small point of land. Chiefly in place names. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > promontory, headland, or cape > [noun] starteOE nessOE snookc1236 head1315 bill1382 foreland?a1400 capec1405 nook?a1425 mull1429 headland?c1475 point?c1475 nese1497 peak1548 promontory1548 arma1552 reach1562 butt1598 promontorea1600 horn1601 naze1605 promonta1607 bay1611 abutment1613 promontorium1621 noup1701 lingula1753 scaw1821 tang1822 odd1869 the world > the earth > land > landscape > [noun] > landform > projecting nook?a1425 point?c1475 snoutc1540 excursiona1626 spur1851 salient1864 odd1869 1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Odd, a small point of land or promontory; as ‘Green Odd’. 1897 J. Jakobsen Dial. & Place Names Shetland in Sc. National Dict. (1965) (at cited word) The extremity of the point called ‘Stoora point’..in Conningsburgh is called ‘de Odd’. 1932 A. Horsbøl tr. J. Jakobsen Etymol. Dict. Norn Lang. in Shetland II. 626/2 ‘De Oddi’, the Fetlar fishermen's sea-term..for ‘de Snapp’.., a promontory, the south point of ‘Funnie ness’. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022). oddadj.n.¹adv. Brit. /ɒd/, U.S. /ɑd/ Forms: Middle English oode, Middle English–1500s ode, Middle English–1600s odde, Middle English–1700s od, Middle English– odd, 1900s– hodd (English regional); Scottish pre-1700 hod, pre-1700 od, pre-1700 odde, pre-1700 ode, pre-1700 oyd, pre-1700 1700s– odd. Origin: A borrowing from early Scandinavian. Etymology: < early Scandinavian: compare Norwegian odde , Old Swedish odda , udda (Swedish udda ), early modern Danish odde (Danish regional odde ), all in sense ‘(of a number) odd’, and also Old Icelandic odda- , combining form (in odda-maðr , third man, odd man, who gives the casting vote, odda-tala odd number) of oddi triangle, point or tongue of land, odd number (see odd n.²); the adjectives in other Scandinavian languages are probably of similar origin (compare Norwegian oddetal, early modern Danish oddetal, both in sense ‘odd number’).The senses ‘odd’, ‘odd number’ in early Scandinavian apparently developed by metaphor from ‘triangle’ (as being three-cornered), and thence by extension from the third or unpaired member of a group of three, to any single or unpaired member of a group, and from three as the primary ‘odd number’, to all numbers containing an unpaired unit. A. adj. I. With reference to number. 1. Of an individual: that is one in addition to a pair, or to an even number; remaining over after distribution or division into pairs; constituting a unit in excess of an even number. Cf sense A. 8d.Cf. odd man n. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > even > that is one unit in excess of odda1325 a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) 1497 His cloþes hi delde a ffoure..Þo was his curtel odde. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 64 Synowes beþ a-countid in alle too & þritty peyre & one odde synowe. c1465 Inventory in Trans. Bristol & Gloucs. Archaeol. Soc. 1893–4 (1894) 18 326 A peyre vestements for werkedays and an odde awbe for to change. 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 68^v They flie two a breast, and the fift or odde Crane..flieth all alone before. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. v. 115 If we survey the totall set of animals, we may in their legs..observe an equality of length, and parity of numeration; that is, not any to have an odde leg. View more context for this quotation 1816 S. W. Singer Researches Hist. Playing Cards 262 (Gleek) If an odd number is given the eldest hand claims the largest half, or else the odd one is given to the pool. 1878 F. H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 77 We took the fruit up to my cabin, and the boys got around and we divided them squar and even, thar bein' one odd one over, which we put on One-eared Sam's pile, bein' as he was crippled. 1977 D. Bagley Enemy i. 9 I was invited as a makeweight for the odd girl. 2. a. Of a whole number: having one left over as remainder when divided by two. Opposed to even. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > odd odda1398 imparc1430 uneven1577 unequal1697 odd-numbered1850 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 327 Nyne and fourty þat..comeþ of multiplicacioun of odde nombres, as seuene siþe seuene makeþ nyne and fourty. c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 38 Yf the other figure signyfie any other digital nombre fro vayte forthe, oþer the nombre is ode or evene. c1475 Court of Sapience (Trin. Cambr.) (1927) 1961 (MED) She taught nombre, whyche ys odde and whyche ys euyn. 1543 R. Record Ground of Artes i. sig. K.vii^v There is no iuste halfe of any odde nomber. 1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. xix. f. 67^v The common order with us is to have them [sc. a jury] of an odde number, as 17, 19, or 21, to the ende..that if they should dissent in opinion..there should bee alwayes one to..cast the ballance. a1616 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor (1623) v. i. 2 This is the third time: I hope good lucke lies in odde numbers. View more context for this quotation 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 303 Three, Seven, or Nine Times; as if God delighted in an Odd Number. 1743 W. Emerson Doctr. Fluxions 80 m is the half of any positive odd Number. 1786 T. Jefferson Let. Oct. in Writings (1984) 608 An odd number of syllables with a single rhyme,..prove the verse to be imparisyllabic. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 516 It [sc. a wheel] in general contains an odd number of teeth. 1891 R. Routledge Discov. 19th Cent. (ed. 8) 325 The undulations will plainly be in opposite phases when the lengths of paths differ by an odd number of half-wave lengths. 1950 S. Thompson Old Time Dancing i. 9 To memorise positions it is well to note that the odd numbers, i.e., the first, third and fifth, are all closed positions. 1990 M. Balfour Sign of Serpent (BNC) 22 Cobra effigies and icons are in most part multicephalous, that is possessing three, five, seven or sometimes nine heads, always an odd number. b. Numbered with or known by an odd number.The form of expression in quot. 1575 is obsolete; the modern expression would be ‘an odd number of dog's hairs’. ΚΠ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 122 An euene mone answeriþ to an odde moneþ and an odde mone to an euene moneþ. c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 63^v (MED) If it so be þat þer bihoueþ mo sticchis þan two, þanne euermore þer schal be odde sticchis, as þre, fyue, or vij, & so forþ. 1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxxix. 230 Some haue vsed in times past, to put a dogges haires odde into an Ash or Ceruisetree. 1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 145 If you make two such bodies..to run a tilt upon such a line of odd leastings. 1786 T. Jefferson Let. Oct. in Writings (1984) 607 With us the accent is on every odd syllable or on every even one or on every third. 1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 25 If the direction-angle of one equals that of the other increased by any odd multiple of π. 1966 Math. Rev. 31 36/1 Matrices M of even order behave somewhat differently from those of odd order. 1981 ‘A. Cross’ Death in Faculty (1988) ii. 16 Odd decades in our century seem to be ghastly..the thirties, the fifties, the seventies. 1990 N.Y. Press 11 July 13/1 A..series of escalators,..with the up series hitting the even floors and down hitting the odd ones. †c. In various phrases contrasting with even, the two together being regarded as comprising everything. See even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 4. Obsolete. ΚΠ a1450 (?c1400) Sir Gowther (Royal) (1886) 285 Speke no word, even ne odde. c1475 Erthe upon Erthe (Brogyntyn) (1911) 25 (MED) Loke þou lete, for oode ne for ewyne. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 201 (MED) I haue sene the lamb of god..And towchid hym, for euen or od. 1570 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation xx. 120 Tratours kene That ithandly hes streuin For to deface the nobill race Of Stewarts, od and euin. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iii. 18 Euen or odde, of all dayes in the yeare come Lammas Eue at night shall she be fourteene. View more context for this quotation 1603 Thre Prestis of Peblis (Charteris) (1920) 43 I sweir the be the Heuin, I sal hir neuer displeis for od nor euin. 1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra ii. iv. §28 One cannot so much as phantastically choose, Even or Odd. d. Mathematics. evenly odd: (of a number) that is double an odd number. oddly odd: (of an odd number) that is the product of two smaller odd numbers. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > produced in a certain way > produced by factors > of specific kinds superficiala1398 evenly odd1570 oddly odd1570 plano-solida1679 1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. vii. f. 185 A number euenly odde..is that which an euen number measureth by an odde number. 1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. vii. f. 185^v A number odly odde is that, which an odde number doth measure by an odde number. 1798 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 88 376 If m be evenly odd, or ^m/ ₂ an odd number, then the equation for determining z, has either two possible roots, or two of the form a±b√−1. 1974 L. M. Osen Women in Math. 35 When the emperor Hadrian inquires to know the ages of Sapientia's three daughters (Faith, Hope, and Charity), the reply is that Charity's age is represented by a defective evenly even number; Hope's by a defective evenly odd number; and that of Faith by an oddly even redundant one. e. Mathematics. Of a permutation of a set of items: obtained from the natural arrangement by an odd number of transpositions of items. ΚΠ 1893 L. G. Weld Theory of Determinants ii. 22 The permutations..of a group are divided into two classes, the even or positive permutations and the odd or negative permutations. 1927 O. Veblen Invariants Quadratic Differential Forms i. 3 The generalized Kronecker delta has k superscripts and k subscripts, each running from 1 to n... If the superscripts are distinct from each other and the subscripts are the same set of numbers as the superscripts, the value of the symbol is + 1 or − 1 according as an even or an odd permutation is required to arrange the superscripts in the same order as the subscripts; in all other cases its value is 0. 1997 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 453 903 Taking {α₁,α₂,α₃} = {1,2,3}, {β₁,β₂,β₃} can be either an even or an odd permutation of {α₁,α₂,α₃}. f. Physics. [After German ungerade (introduced in this sense by F. Hund 1928, in Zeitschr. f. Physik 51 781, and earlier in a slightly different sense (compare quot. 1930, note) by R. de L. Kronig 1928, in Zeitschr. f. Physik 50 351).] Of a quantum state, orbital, etc.: having odd parity, i.e. antisymmetric with respect to a change of sign of coordinates. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > quantum mechanics > symmetry, conserved properly > [adjective] > having odd or even parity odd1930 1930 R. de L. Kronig in Physical Rev. 36 617 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 ψ 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 ψ function of any molecule, homonuclear or heteronuclear. 1940 Physical Rev. 58 104/1 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. g. Chemistry. In atmospheric chemistry: designating an element normally present as a diatomic molecule (as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine) when it occurs as a constituent of a more reactive species containing an odd number of atoms of that element. ΚΠ 1932 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 137 33 The stability of the oxygen atom in N₂O at 700° C is about the same as that of the odd oxygen of ozone at ordinary temperatures.] 1967 Planetary & Space Sci. 15 194 Because the photo-dissociation proceeds partly through (2) odd nitrogen atoms (mainly combined as NO or NO₂) are necessarily associated with nitrous oxide. 1974 Nature 22 Nov. 292/3 Odd chlorine is a more potent catalyst for the destruction of ozone than is odd nitrogen. 1977 I. M. Campbell Energy & Atmosphere ix. 353 In Figure 113 we can see that several species contribute significantly to the ‘odd hydrogen’ concentration, notably H with lesser contributions from OH and HO₂. 1995 Science 5 May 706 Fig. 3 illustrates the most important terms in the ozone budget, calculated from that of odd oxygen (or O₃ equivalent). 3. a. Used to denote a surplus over a definite sum, or a remainder (usually expressed in a lower denomination) of weight, measure, or money; additional, extra, remaining. Now rare except as passing into more general sense at A. 8a. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > [adjective] > excessive or superfluous > surplus of lower denomination odda1400 a1400 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 162 (MED) Of twelue moneþes me wanted one & odde days nyen or ten. a1500 (?a1400) Tale King Edward & Shepherd (Cambr.) (1930) 75 (MED) Me is owand iiii pounde And odde twa schillyng. 1562 Linlithgow Sheriff Court 19 Dec. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) And gif ony ode siluir be contenit in the testament the samin salbe payit with the first ten merkes at Ȝule nixt to cum. 1590–1 in R. Edgar Hist. Dumfries (1915) 255 Thai annualrentis..extendis in the terme to threscoir tuelf pundis with sum od schillingis or thairby. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 806 The Mexicans divided the yeare into eighteene moneths, ascribing to each twentie dayes, so that the five odde dayes were excluded. 1657 in Misc. Sc. Hist. Soc. VII. 14 3 pund sterlinge and som od munie. 1687 Corshill Baron-Court Bk. in Archæol. & Hist. Coll. Ayr & Wigton (1884) IV. 174 Seaven fourtine shilling peices and some od turnouris. 1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Triemimeris Is a Branch of the Cæsura of a Latine Verse, when after the first Foot of the Verse there remains an odd Syllable, which helps to make the next Foot. 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 107 It was Two and Twenty Shillings and Six-Pence Half penny; One and Twenty Shillings I had been to fetch, and the odd Money was my own before. 1781 G. W. Beekman Let. 10 July in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) III. 1389 I Received yours of the 6 Instent and Note the Contents I now Send you per Mr. John Goodin five half Joes is 40 Dollars Give the od Dollar to Sister Rutgers. 1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede v. xxxvi. 418 Her two guineas, and the odd shillings, which had a melancholy look. 1873 E. E. Hale In his Name i. 1 He would relax his hold on the odd sols and deniers. 1892 S. Laing Human Origins (1893) 117 They had invented a sothic cycle for the odd quarter of a day. 1898 E. N. Westcott David Harum xx. 185 Part o' that cap'tal,..consistin' of a quarter an' some odd cents, was invested in the cirkis bus'nis. 1937 Life 26 July 76/2 (advt.) The Fidelity Income Plan... If you can set aside a little odd change each day, you are eligible. †b. and odd: denoting an indefinite number and qualifying a noun of lower denomination in an otherwise definite expression of quantity or amount; ‘and some’; ‘and a few’. Also without and. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > indefinite and odda1438 and odd1634 infinite1660 indeterminate1706 indetermined1706 a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 7 (MED) Þis creatur..was wondyrlye vexid & labowryd wyth spyritys half ȝer, viij wekys, & odde days. a1450 ( G. Chaucer Treat. Astrolabe ii. §25 48 Than leveth there 38 degrees and odde minutes. 1481 Perth Guildry 11 Oct. in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (1983) V. 34/2 Tweching the clame of vjs. grottis and od siluer of the usuale mone of Flandris. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xxxii^v When he had reigned .xiii. yeres, v. monthes & odde daies. 1603 H. Petowe Elizabetha quasi Viuens sig. B2 Three thousand and od hundred clowds appere. 1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 43 It is in the latitude of twenty two degrees, odde minutes North. 1671 J. Sharp Midwives Bk. v. x. 297 The Moons Month..that is twenty seven daies and odd minutes. 1714 London Gaz. No. 5213/4 11 Foot odd Inches in the Hold. 1813 R. Wilson Private 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. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > sum of money > [phrase] > small (and) odd money1447 two and a plack1692 red cent1837 society > trade and finance > money > sum of money > [noun] > small sum > as surplus (after payment) (and) odd money1447 change1665 wissel1808 1447 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) 16 (MED) Thomas Montagew sholde sende me xj li. and odde mony. 1472 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 575 Your byll a-lone drawyth iiij mark and ode monye. 1550 King Edward VI Jrnl. in Lit. Remains (1857) 267 The det of thirty thousand pound and ode money was put over an yere. a1641 A. Munday et al. Bk. Sir Thomas More (1911) 6 Ten poundes, odd monie, this is a prettie sum, to [bea]re about. View more context for this quotation 1689 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 304 [They] broke as many windows as came to 7li. and od money. 1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvii. 93 Pay the Thirty-five Pounds odd Money. 1752 H. Fielding Amelia III. viii. ii. 115 He hath been here these five Weeks, at the Suit of a Bookseller, for Eleven Pound odd Money. d. Used elliptically, simply as odd or (occasionally) odds, to denote an indeterminate surplus of a lower denomination of money, weight, or measure (as in senses A. 3b and A. 3c). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > greater in quantity, amount, or degree > with positive amount added odd1741 plus1928 1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xvii. 93 The remaining Four Pounds odd will be a little Fund..towards the Childrens Schooling. 1834 F. Marryat Jacob Faithful I. ii. 32 The proceeds of the exhibition and sale amounted to 47l. odd. 1892 Law Times Rep. 47 52/2 It was orally agreed..that the amount of such costs should be taken at 63l. odd. 1923 Hansard Commons 12 June 322 In 1913..the total value of the commodities which are now subject to the McKenna duties amounted to £2,600,000 odd. 1961 Listener 26 Oct. 659/2 The £6-odd offered (per week) by banks and post offices, etc., to sixteen-year-old ‘O’ levellers. 1990 Match Fishing Feb. 7/1 End of the day, 5lb odd for a section win, despite being ripped off by a pike. 4. More generally: used to denote a remainder or numerical surplus over and above a ‘round number’ (as a multiple of ten or a similar unit such as dozen, etc.), and thus becoming virtually an indefinite cardinal number of lower denomination than the round number named. †a. In and odd following the noun modified by the numeral. Obsolete (rare in later use). ΚΠ a1450 ( tr. Vegetius De Re Militari (Douce) f. 26 (MED) Bitwene þe firste werrus of þe Pynus and þe secounde, þat was twenty ȝere and odde [L. uiginti et quod..annorum]. c1475 (c1399) Mum & Sothsegger (Cambr. Ll.4.14) (1936) Prol. 68 (MED) They shall fele fawtis foure score and odde. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 24 (MED) Sex hundreth yeris & od haue I..liffyd. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxx The nomber whiche departed..were..fiue hundreth horsemen and odde wel and warlike. 1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 134 Distant sixtie miles and odde. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 10 Full one thousand six hundred years and odde. 1700 T. D'Urfey Famous Hist. Rise & Fall Massaniello i. i. i. 5 Fifty and odd, and more a coming too. 1720 J. Dennis Invader of his Country ii. iii. 27 For your Voices I have fought,..for your Voices, bear of Wounds two Dozen and odd. 1846 C. Dickens Let. 30 Aug. (1977) IV. 615 Bradbury and Evans's account for the half year is £1100 and odd. 1894 ‘M. Twain’ Pudd'nhead Wilson xviii. 241 What are you thinking of? Go and ask him for three hundred dollars and odd? 1911 J. London Piece of Steak in Sel. Stories (1982) 858 They were eyes that saw everything, that had been trained to see everything through all his twenty years and odd in the ring. b. In and odd forming with the numeral a phrase preceding the noun modified. Now rare (chiefly regional). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > a small number of some fewOE puckleOE a litec1290 couple1365 a…or twoa1400 handfulc1443 a wheen (of)1487 and odd1548 sprinkling1561 pair1611 scattering1628 sprinkle1754 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 426 Of þe lenþe of Noe lyf..Þe sex hundreth of his age and none odde ȝerez.] 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxvj^v Had contynued in the English possession, from the yere of our Lord.M.lv.which is.iii. C. & od yeres. 1569 R. Androse tr. ‘Alessio’ (title) A verye excellent and profitable booke conteining sixe hundred foure score and odde experienced medicines. 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. v. 46 Bodin confirmeth them with a hundred and odd lies. 1612 W. Symonds Proc. Eng. Colonie Virginia xi. 85 in Narr. Early Virginia (1907) 185 Now wee so quietly followed our businesse that in 3 monthes, we made 3 or 4 Last of Pitch, and tarre, and sope ashes;..of 3 sowes, in one yeare increased 60 and od pigges. 1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 316 We agreed for threescore and odd pistols, which I laid down; but he recanting and demanding more, I withdrew my money. 1688 London Gaz. No. 2356/4 With 200 and odd Pounds. 1704 Boston News-let. 26 June 2/2 Cap. Stevens..who went on shore with about 100 & odd men at the River of Chechopege. 1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. i. 109 Two hundred and odd men. 1766 W. Kenrick Falstaff's Wedding i. v. 6 Having..ridden post day and night fourscore and odd miles, to congratulate him on his accession. 1814 F. Burney Wanderer V. ix. lxxvii. 9 Though..a straunger in these parts, till I was married; my feather-in-law, who has lived in them, mon and boy, better than ninety and odd years, [etc.]. 1823 Ld. Byron Let. 3 Mar. (1980) X. 115 There remains 5000 and odd pounds. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 29 Go into ecstasies over the eighty and odd pigeons. 1926 J. Devanny Butcher Shop x. 90 He had deprived himself of his mate, his ‘cobber’ for twenty and odd years. 1930 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 38 A man..weighing two hundred and odd pounds. 1992 Pioneer on Sunday (Delhi) 13 Sept. 5/2 The five thousand and odd indigenous Nauruans will have to..take urgent steps to restore what is left of their land. c. Immediately following the numeral (usually one that denotes multiples of ten) forming a phrase preceding the noun modified. Now often in weakened use (frequently hyphenated): ‘or so’; ‘or thereabouts’. ΚΠ 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iv. i. 95 Eightie odde yeares of sorrow haue I seene. View more context for this quotation 1649 J. Goodwin Ὑβριστοδίκαι: Obstructours of Justice 1 Those fourtie odde Ministers of Jesus Christ..were not ashamed to make God himself a Patron and Protectour of murtherers. 1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xxv. 202 Forty odde, if not fifty great bubbles of Air. 1703 Duke of Marlborough Lett. & Disp. (1845) I. 170 We have fifty odd of our troops taken. 1747 Boston Weekly News-let. 16 July 2/1 Hendrick, the Indian who went out..to annoy the French in their Out-Settlements at Canada, with thirty odd Indians. 1793 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 75 Fleeced of seventy odd dollars. 1805 T. Jefferson Let. 8 Feb. in Mem., Corr. & Misc. (1829) IV. 31 Twenty odd times within that term, there was not a speck of a cloud in the whole hemisphere. 1866 J. Rees Foot-prints 326 Reed was an old post-office clerk, who..had been in the office for twenty odd years. 1885 Law Times 79 159/1 The 1300 odd pages..contain much of extreme value. 1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel vi. 55 He gazed at six foot odd of gorgeousness, as represented by Sir Percy Blakeney, Bart. 1935 D. Lamson We who are about to Die ii. 34 A dozen-odd men in gray are in this yard. 1995 New Scientist 1 July 38/2 There are fifty-odd ‘cell adhesion molecules’. d. Following a numeral denoting age, with the noun ‘years’ understood. ΚΠ 1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 231 He..who at sev'nty odd forsakes this light. 1750 M. Jones Misc. in Prose & Verse 148 At ninety odd, this happy man Repines, that life is but a span! 1824 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 385 Your worthy father lived to ninety odd—why not his son? 1826 T. Hood Faithless Sally Brown xvii, in Whims & Oddities 1st Ser. 37 His death, which happen'd in his berth, At forty-odd befell. 1862 W. M. Thackeray Wks. (1872) X. 223 At sixty odd, love, most of the ladies of thy orient race have lost the bloom of youth. 1925 Amer. Mercury May 22/2 A rosy old capitalist of sixty-odd, just back from the oil fields at Tampico. 1978 J. Wain Pardoner's Tale i. 8 I started canoeing when I was about fourteen, and now at forty-odd I still get the same release from it. 1997 C. McPherson Weir 25 He was fifty-odd and still only a sergeant. 5. Mathematics. 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)). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [adjective] > relating to expressions > relating to functions generating1671 exponential1704 discontinuous1803 functional1806 odd1812 periodic1820 syzygetic1850 convex1858 graphometric1865 polycyclic1869 subrational1875 synectic1876 variational1879 polyhedral1881 holomorphic1886 tropical1887 Gudermannian1888 monogeneous1888 monotonous1890 oscillating1893 monotonic1901 monotone1903 orthogonalized1909 schlicht1925 concave1942 deconvolved1974 unate1978 1812 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 102 55 Indeed, supposing P to be any odd function of μ, we have more generally ∫P.dμ = 0, between the same limits. 1886 A. G. Greenhill Differential & Integral Calculus ii. 80 fx is an odd function, so that f(−x) = −fx. 1969 A. M. Howatson Princ. Appl. Electr. 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. 1984 J. Dunlop & D. G. Smith Telecommunications Engin. i. 7 A function that has no symmetry about the t = 0 axis is neither odd nor even. II. Senses relating to unevenness or irregularity. †6. a. Not even, aligned, or accordant; uneven, unequal, discrepant, diverse, different. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > equality or equivalence > inequality > [adjective] unevenOE unlikea1387 odda1393 unmeeta1393 inequalc1400 inegal1484 impar1535 unegual1542 unequal1565 inequivalent1568 unmatch1570 unegall1589 disequal1622 disparate1764 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 1580 (MED) The word under the coupe of hevene Set every thing or odde or evene. a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 3034 (MED) Who so biholdeþ þese foure þinges, Al goodnesse out of him springes; For he þat good loue haþ in God, Loue on him-self is not al od. ?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 88 Odde, Dispar, inequalis. 1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 162^v How ferre odde those persones are from the nature of this prince. 1551 Haddon Exhort. Repent. in F. J. Furnivall Ballads from MSS I. 330 Lorde! that their lyves were nothing od Vnto their sayenge that they tell! 1556 R. Robinson tr. T. More Utopia (ed. 2) sig. Aiii The successe and our intent proue thinges farre odde. 1596 M. Roydon Elegie on Astrophel v Upon the branches of those trees, The airie-winged people sat, Distinguished in od degrees, One sort is this, another that. 1697 T. Creech tr. Manilius Five Bks. i The numerous odd variety of things. b. Having a balance on the wrong side; not even or ‘square’. to be odd with: to fail to be even or ‘quits’ with. Cf. even adj.¹ 1b, 13b Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape uneven1398 bastard1418 raggedc1450 odd1508 unruled1551 irregular1584 inordinate1667 rambling1676 odd-shaped1704 bizarre1824 scrawled1895 raggedy1896 scrawly1901 free-form1942 the world > action or operation > failure or lack of success > fail in [verb (transitive)] > fail to satisfy expectation, etc. > fail to be even with to be odd with1508 1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. c Than said bernys bald..We sal evin that is od or end in the pane. a1529 J. Skelton Poems against Garnesche in Poet Wks. (1843) I. 120 I caste me nat to be od With neythyr of yow tewyne. c. At variance or strife; at odds (with). Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > dissent > [adjective] un-i-someOE unsaughtc1100 unsomec1275 discordant1474 unagreed1525 dissentious1562 odd1562 incompatible1567 disagreeing1583 differing1586 discordful1596 distanced1645 1562 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tounge (new ed.) i. iii, in Wks. 191 Thrift and thou art od. 1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida iv. vii. 149 The generall state I feare, Can scarce entreate you to be odde with him. View more context for this quotation †7. a. Singular in valour, worth, merit, or eminence; unique, remarkable, significant; distinguished, famous, renowned; rare, choice. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > state of being noteworthy or remarkable > [adjective] specialc1325 notablec1390 oddc1400 notary1421 insignec1465 rial1487 noteworthy1552 signal1591 signal1591 remarkable1593 of note1596 memorated1631 distinguishable1720 nameable1780 markworthy1799 mad1941 pipperoo1945 ring-a-ding1960 pass-remarkable1974 the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > extremely or exceedingly > remarkably or extraordinarily outnumenlyc1175 outnumenc1225 disguisilyc1325 notablya1398 speciallya1398 oddc1400 oddlyc1400 singularlyc1430 strangelya1450 notable1481 outragec1540 out-takingly1549 supernaturally1578 rarely1581 extraordinarily1593 signally1598 unvulgarly1602 unexpectedly1605 essentially?1606 remarkably1615 unusually1615 particularly1616 eminently1632 extraordinary1632 markablya1634 considerably1646 surprisingly1661 out-of-the-way1718 unco1724 conspicuouslya1732 heroically1735 uncommonly1751 strikingly1752 uncommon1784 pronouncedly1785 markedly1811 awesomea1835 noticeably1845 rousing1847 exceptionally1848 outstandingly1851 prominently1885 accentedly1904 hella1987 c1400 ( Canticum Creatione l. 286 in C. Horstmann Sammlung Altengl. Legenden (1878) 127 (MED) Bad me Michel wiþ word od Worschipen þe, or elles god Wolde wrathen me. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 189 Ane of þe oddist Emperours of þe werde. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3783 (MED) Kyng porrus..had assemblid Anoþire ost of odmen him eft on to ride. a1500 (?c1400) Sir Gowther (Adv.) (1886) 573 (MED) Þo emperour was in þo voward, And Gowþer rode befor is lord, Of knyȝttys was he odde. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 4165 So od men in armys & egur to fight. a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 47^v For our tyme, the odde man to performe all three perfitlie..is, in my poore opinion, Iohannes Sturmius. 1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. bj^v A Gentleman, (which..for skill in the Mathematicall Sciences, and Languages, is the Od man of this land..). 1592 A. Montgomerie Misc. Poems lv. 3 Good Robert Scot..Vho, vhill thou livd, for honestie wes od. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rebras, Vn entendement à double rebras, an odde head, a notable wit, a terrible pate. a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Wales 34 He was an Odde man indeed..for all the Popish party..could not match him with his equal in Learning and Religion. 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 249 Where were many Neat Tombs; but the Oddest, because New, was one beset with Young Cypress Trees. b. That exists or stands alone; single, sole, solitary, singular. by odd: separately, by itself, alone. all and odd: see all adj., pron., n., adv., and conj. Phrases 5g. Obsolete (in later use regional).Cf. sense A. 8b. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adjective] oneeOE onlepyOE onlyOE alonec1175 single1340 soleinc1381 solitaire1382 singularc1384 solec1400 oddc1480 alonelya1513 uncompanieda1547 a-high-lone1565 bird-alone1572 self-one1602 insociate1606 unmated1615 lonesome1647 solo1727 uncompanioned1809 unfellowed1887 Pat Malone1937 the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > one > condition of being alone > [adverb] singlya1300 alonely1307 singularlya1340 by oddc1480 solely1582 solitarilya1641 uniquely1831 tout seul1926 c1480 (a1400) St. Blaise 140 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 365 Say nocht of godis, bot of god, fore þat word afferis ay be ode. ?1510 T. More in tr. G. F. Pico della Mirandola Lyfe I. Picus sig. f.vi As he [sc. God] in souerayne dignite is odd So will he in loue no partyng fellows haue. 1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt 29 If aboue all griefes, a secret griefe there be, that restes in one odde man alone, that sure doth rest in me. 1851 T. Sternberg Dial. & Folk-lore Northants. (at cited word) It was a nice house, but it was so odd; there wasn't a place of worship within three mile. 1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Odd, single. 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Odd,..single, lonely... ‘Odd kitlin, puppy, pig, chicken, stocking’ &c. 1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Odd, lonely. ‘An odd house’, ‘an odd place’. 8. a. Extraneous or additional to what is reckoned or taken into account; that is not, or cannot be, reckoned, included, or coordinated with other things; not belonging to any particular total, set, or group; not forming part of a regular series; unconnected; irregular, casual; occurring randomly or haphazardly. odd ends n. odds and ends (see odds n. 7a). odd things n. = odd ends n. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > quality of being exclusive > [adjective] > not belonging to a category, etc. odda1450 a1450 (?a1390) J. Mirk Instr. Parish Priests (Claud.) (1974) 198 Loke also þey make non odde weddynge. c1475 Chess Probl. in MS Ashm. 344 f. 22 Thus shalt thou bryng in þi odde drawghtes in cas þu be a drawght behynde. 1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Eii There sekinge about for od endes, [he] at length founde a lytle whystell of syluer. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. ii. sig. Cc.iij^v/1 Vnhonest sparing of euery odd halfpenie. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. iii. 335 Old odde ends stolne out of holy writ. View more context for this quotation 1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 12 Give him leave to sell all his rags, and odde-ends. 1656 A. Cowley Brutus in Pindaric Odes v When we see perish thus by odd Events, Ill men, and wretched Accidents, The best Cause. 1707 W. Funnell Voy. round World ii. 33 This second Prize, after we had taken out a few odd Things, was..dismist. 1717 in Quarter Sessions Rec. (N. Riding Rec. Soc.) (1890) VIII. 171 One oak chest, one arm chair with some other odd householdments within the Township. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xii. ix. 255 Containing little more than a few odd Observations. View more context for this quotation 1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 131 Odd rain-drops damp'd his face. 1844 C. C. Moore Poems 49 A lively lass Was playing songs and waltzes, and odd ends Of fav'rite melodies. 1871 C. Gibbon For Lack of Gold i They had come to see what odd pence they could pick up. 1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield (at cited word) An odd child is an illegitimate child. 1949 D. M. Davin Roads from Home iii. i. 210 He'd still be able to save the odd quid. 1961 H. Gregory Sel. Poems (1964) 169 She would ask nothing of me Except odd ends of gossip. 1966 C. Bukowski Let. 6 Apr. in Screams from Balcony (1998) 250 All the odd things, haircut, buy shoes, get a tooth pulled, [etc.]. 1998 Strad July 709/2 Many pieces suffer from the odd sour note or from untidy position changes. b. Of a place: situated apart from the general body of a larger place or thing; out of the way. Chiefly in odd corner. Cf. sense A. 7b. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > space > place > [noun] > set apart or out of the way anglea1325 nooka1425 retreatc1500 odd corner1576 recess1611 off-corner1793 cubby1868 1576 A. Fleming tr. J. L. Vives in Panoplie Epist. 402 Being but a private man, and shutt up close in an odde corner. 1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 10 Vs to this od corner thee wynd tempestuus hurled. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 224 In an odde Angle of the Isle. View more context for this quotation 1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 645 He was constrained to..seeke odde corners for his safety. 1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. Concl. 332 By the time of Justinian..the penal law had been crammed into an odd corner of the civil. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 105 From some odd corner of the brain. 1877 H. James American x. 167 The room was illumined..by half a dozen candles, placed in odd corners, at a great distance apart. 1911 K. D. Wiggin Mother Carey xiv. 124 Dozens of shelves in odd spaces helped much in the tidy stowing away of household articles. 1965 P. Wayre Wind in Reeds xi. 156 Little pockets of phragmites had sprung up in the odd corners and shallow bays all round the main [gravel] pit. 2001 Org. Gardening Jan. 12/3 The former two [sc. courgettes and tomatoes] are..in odd corners elsewhere in the garden, while radishes will be catch-cropped wherever space arises. †c. Extra; given over and above. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus i. iii. 349 You shall haue 40 shillings and an odde pottle of wine. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet v. ii. 138 I will winne for him and I can, if not, I will gaine nothing but my shame, and the odde hits. d. That forms part of an incomplete pair or set; used esp. of garments (as socks, gloves, etc.). Also applied to either or both of a pair of non-matching items. Cf. sense A. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > [adjective] > forming part of an incomplete set odd1611 1611 Inventory Lynning & Goodes at Cockesden 28 Feb. in Anc. Inventories illustr. Domestic Manners Eng. (1854) 62 Seaven parre of course sheetes, and one odd sheet. 1703 G. Farquhar Twin-rivals iii. 31 Mr. Alderman, han't you the fellow to this Glove,..it looks so like a Challenge to give a Man an odd Glove. 1745 B. Franklyn Ess., Articles, Bagatelles, & Lett. 302 He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors. 1764 S. Foote Patron i. 19 With what stock did you trade? I can give you the catalogue... Two odd volumes of Swift; the Life of Moll Flanders [etc.]. 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 215/2 Sellers of odd numbers of periodicals and broadsheets. 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. xii. 174 I hate to have odd gloves! Never mind, the other may be found. 1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood iii. 13 Odd volumes of dismal books. 1917 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring–Summer 242/3 Men's odd tweed vests..in a variety of patterns, as they are made from ends. 1933 A. G. Macdonell England, their England v. 61 A broken umbrella, odd shoes, books, newspapers,..photographs and pictures, were all crammed into another suitcase. 1993 Belfast Tel. Mar. (BNC) The man's wife had wasted no time going through his closets picking up worn and odd pairs [of socks]. e. Applied to a point in or interval of time: occurring casually or irregularly, esp. between periods of fixed occupation; occasional. ΘΚΠ the world > time > [adjective] > intervening middlea1200 meana1382 interloping1603 interim1604 intercurrent1611 odd1618 intermediate1623 intervenient1629 intermedian1656 interveninga1781 interstitial1841 1618 in J. Imrie & J. G. Dunbar Accts. Masters of Wks. (1982) II. 119 To the barrowmen to beir up the sparis fra the nether baillie quhen they sould haif restit at ther od houris. 1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 5 They may have easily learnt at any odde hour the Italian tongue. 1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality I. vii. 293 Our principal Diet was weak Tea and Bread, and, if we ventured, at odd Times, on a small Joint of Meat, it served us cold, hashed and minced, from one Week to the other. 1819 T. Arnold Let. 29 Nov. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) I. ii. 56 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. a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 246/2 There was in those days a Mr. Way,..whom, it should seem, he had been in the habit of employing to read to him at odd times. 1893 A. Jessopp Stud. Recluse Pref. 9 The great teachers are not they who pick up their knowledge at odd moments. 1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 42/2 Simple recreation in those odd Sundays and in his few weekday hours of leisure. 1937 Manch. Guardian 5 May 8/4 Doodling is fidgeting about pictorially with a pen or pencil at odd moments to pass the time. 1996 TNT Mag. 8 July 156/2 (advt.) Flexi hours + extra pay for the odd weekends work in the country. f. Not forming part of a regular course of work. Chiefly in odd job n. Also applied to a person or animal employed in doing occasional or irregular work, as odd hand, odd lad, odd-timer, etc. (now chiefly regional).See also odd man n., odd-horse n. at Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1704 T. Baker Act at Oxf. ii. ii. 17 She..owes her Joyner above a hundred Pounds for odd-Jobs. 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Oct. xxii. 149 The Odd-man's Wages is from fifty Shillings, to four Pounds a Year. 1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations I. vii. 90 I was..odd-boy about the forge. 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. 1871 Lady M. A. Barker Christmas Cake in Four Quarters iv. i. 247 Shearers and musterers, and all the odd hands which flock to a station at shearing-time. 1894 Northumberland Words 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. 1925 A. S. M. Hutchinson One Increasing Purpose i. xviii. 113 She's an odd-timer on Miss Marr's typist staff. 1937 E. Garnett Family from One End St. i. 13 She occasionally did odd work to ‘oblige’ Mrs. Theobald, the Vicar's wife. 1947 Scots Mag. Apr. 12 He'll stert off for an odd laddie when he leaves the schule an' never get off a ferm. 1986 K. Juby In Other Words—David Bowie (BNC) He didn't have two beans to rub together. He was doing a bit of odd work here and there on an ad hoc basis. 9. a. Of persons, their actions, etc.: strange in behaviour or appearance; peculiar; eccentric; unexpected.See also odd bod n., odd body n. at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > a standard of conduct > [adjective] > not conforming to standard behaviour irregular1395 unformalc1449 informalc1475 disordered1561 monstrous1568 odd1577 irregulate1579 exorbitant1613 free-spirited1613 exorbitating1632 inconformable1633 extravagant1650 inconform1659 eccentric1685 unconformable1702 outrageous1778 unconventional1840 erratic1841 kinky1844 Bohemian1846 radical1869 Bohemic1874 nonconforming1899 hard case1904 jazz1917 offbeat1922 deviant1935 deviate1945 oddball1945 left field1951 way out1955 boho1958 non-conformant1960 sideways1969 the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > slightly mad > eccentric or cranky fantastical1531 odd1577 eccentric1685 fanaticized1827 cranky1850 bee-bonneted1856 cornery1887 screwy1887 kinky1889 crankish1892 ratty1895 batchy1898 batsc1901 batty1903 potty1920 offbeat1922 off-centre1930 wacky1935 screwball1936 up the creek1941 oddball1945 wackadoo1958 kooky1959 wiggy1963 flaky1964 nutball1968 woo-woo1971 wacko1977 off-kilter1985 wackadoodle1993 fantastic- 1577 N. Breton Wks. Young Wyt f.11^v I now muste leaue you all (alas) And liue with some, odde lobcocke Asse! 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. i. 13 He is too picked, to spruce, too affected, to od as it were. View more context for this quotation 1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. i. 72 So odde, and from all fashions, As Beatrice is. View more context for this quotation a1640 J. Day & H. Chettle Blind-beggar (1659) sig. F1 There's an odde fellow snuffels i' the nose, that shows a motion about Bishopsgate. 1679 L. Addison First State Mahumedism 33 Going up and down after an odd distracted manner. 1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 14. ⁋1 An odd Fellow, whose Face I have often seen at the Playhouse, gave me the following Letter. 1743 H. Fielding Ess. Conversat. in Misc. I. 130 One of these [philosophers], when he appears..among us, is distinguished..by the Name of an odd Fellow. 1796 Ld. Nelson Let. 18 Aug. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 243 Maurice Suckling..may be odd, but I believe none will do more real good with the estate. 1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility II. iii. 38 If they got tired of me, they might talk to one another, and laugh at my odd ways behind my back. View more context for this quotation 1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) i. 24 The advancing man..finds that the poet was no odd fellow who described strange and impossible situations. 1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 38 The village people thought her odd, and were a little afraid of her. 1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life vii. 287 I often find myself a bit odd—negligent, and forgetful, and sort of imbecile. 1937 J. Agate Diary 5 Dec. in Selective Ego (1976) 94 These odd people—people are ‘odd’ when their peculiarities are not one's own. 1955 E. Blishen Roaring Boys i. 66 I found that the oddest boys take a pride in their skill at arithmetic. 2002 N.Y. Times 27 Feb. b7/2 The inmates and the staff at the Kincaid Institute range from odd to mad. b. Of things: differing in character from what is ordinary, usual, normal, or expected; out of the ordinary; extraordinary, strange, peculiar; unexpected, surprising. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd quaintc1325 awkc1440 queer?a1513 odd1578 quaintish1594 odd-conceiteda1616 odd-ceited1652 whimsical1675 singulara1684 eccentric1685 oddish1705 rummish1709 comical1713 odd-like1718 rum1750 queerish1775 funny1793 quare1805 rummy1828 kinky1844 quirkish1848 quirky1873 odd-gates1906 funny-peculiar1916 antrin1925 off-brand1929 fanciful- 1578 T. Churchyard Disc. Queenes Entertainem. sig. Ciij^v Some odde deuice shall meete hir highnesse streight, To make hir smyle, and ease hir burthened brest. 1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie lviii. 349 To the end they might not vse any odde shiftes to keepe their naughtinesse from discouering. a1592 H. Smith Serm. in Wks. (1866) II. 84 Amongst the heathen they had many odd conceits. 1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 121 Women writing seldome, makes it seem strange, and what is unusuall, seemes Fantasticall, and what is Fantasticall, seemes odd, and what seemes odd, Ridiculous. 1679 L. Addison First State Mahumedism sig. Aij^v Though many odde things are here set down of this Imposter, yet they are all own'd by his Sectaries. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 72. ¶2 He was a Member of the Everlasting Club. So very odd a Title raised my Curiosity. 1712 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. Jan. (1965) I. 114 I have the oddest Jumble of disagreable things in my head that ever plagu'd poor mortals. 1772 T. Simpson Compl. Vermin-killer i Some may think it odd for a man to sit down and write on so trifling a subject as vermin. 1816 J. Austen Emma III. xi. 404 Is this not the oddest news?.. Did you ever hear any thing so strange? 1852 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. xiii. 243 An odd circumstance is that the oak-leaves this year are falling as soon as those of the elm. 1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. ix. 333 (note) It is odd that they are not spoken of. 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xiii. 126 The more she talks and the odder the things she says, the more he's delighted evidently. 1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 204 And now there was this odd friendship with Miss Kilman. 1942 C. Headlam Diary 7 May in S. Ball Parl. & Politics in Age Churchill & Atlee (1999) viii. 311 It is odd how all and sundry appear to be obsessed with the idea that the Russians are going to beat the Germans and then ‘steam roll’ into Berlin. 1994 A. L. Kennedy Now that you're Back 51 I couldn't say what was wrong about it and we made no fuss at the time, but the atmosphere was odd. c. Of a material thing: fantastic, grotesque; peculiar or strange in appearance, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > strange > specifically in appearance uncouth1513 odd1596 wilda1616 weird1816 1596 T. Churchyard Pleasant Disc. Court & Wars sig. A4 A glasse of steele in some od case, Where each man may see his owne face. 1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania ii. 167 Seeing her strange odde attire, gessing by her speech to be as vaine, as her apparrell was phantasticall,..hee said [etc.]. a1652 I. Jones in B. Allsopp & R. A. Sayce Inigo Jones on Palladio (1970) II. iv. 93 This baacement..doth well enough but yt is somwhat odde. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xviii. 517 He busied himself in making a Chest, with 4 boards... It was but an ill shaped odd thing. 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 120. ⁋4 Her eyes..had odd Casts in them. 1760 G. Edwards Gleanings Nat. Hist. II. 153 The larger Fish I call the Spur-fish, from the two odd pectinated sharp-pointed..spurs on its upper and under sides. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 140 The Horse shoe Bat, with an odd protuberance round its upper lip, somewhat in the form of an horse-shoe. 1836 J. Murray Hand-bk. for Travellers on Continent 438/1 In the garden of the château is an odd, many-sided building resembling a Chinese temple. 1858 C. Dickens Let. 29 Aug. (1995) VIII. 644 It is the oddest carriage in the world. 1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island iii. xiv. 110 I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampy trees. 1917 E. R. Burroughs Princess of Mars viii. 73 Upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight. 1964 Road & Track Jan. 22/2 The gears are selected by an odd curved floor stalk which fouls the passenger seat but they go in all right. 1992 Tucson (Arizona) Weekly 21 Dec. 11/2 Valle revs up the engine of his air boat, an odd contraption that resembles a time machine. B. n.¹ 1. a. An odd number, or an odd-numbered thing; (with the and plural agreement) †odd numbers as a class; (also) †the numerical property of oddness (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > parity > oddness odda1398 oddnessa1398 imparity1646 gnomon1660 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 238^v Oon is moder of pluralite and cause of euene and odde [L. imparitatis], for if þou settest oon to an odde nombre nedes þu makest an euene nombre. c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 47 (MED) Al-weyes fro the last ode me shalle begynne. 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. iii. 59 Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen. 1610 E. Bolton Elements of Armories 182 One is onely best: next to that the Trias, Ternio, or number three, and so the rest of the Odde to Fifteen. 1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 149 Nemesis, Who with even matches odd. 1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 328 Just as the odd is a part of number, and number is a more extended notion than the odd. 1979 M. Hammer Learn to play Mah Jongg ii. 35 The next step is to evaluate which tiles are more prevalent—odds, evens, winds, singles, pairs. 1990 E. Harth Dawn of Millennium (1991) i. 16 We were divided into two groups, odds and evens... The evens faced the street and the motorcade, the odds faced the crowd. b. odds and (also or) evens (also odd and even, odd or even): any of various games, usually played by children, esp. a guessing game involving a random number of objects concealed in a player's hand. Now chiefly archaic, U.S., and British regional. †to go odd or even: to play such a game as a means of determining something (obsolete).See also earlier even or odd at even adj.¹ and n.² Phrases 4d. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > other games of chance > [noun] even or odd1538 love1585 Jack-in-the-box?1593 under-hat1629 pluck-penny1643 morra1659 catch-dolt1674 shuffle-cap1712 fair chance1723 E O1751 teetotum1753 rondo1821 cut-throat1823 hop-my-fool1824 odds and evens1841 spin-'em-round1851 halfpenny under the hat1853 racehorses1853 fan-tan1878 tan1883 pakapoo1886 legality1888 petits chevaux1891 pai gow1906 boule1911 put and take1921 c1625 T. Heywood tr. Ovid De Arte Amandi iii. 80 To passe the night at balliards till eleauen, At pickapandie, cards, or odd or euen. 1746 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Satires ii. iii. 255 Suppose, in childish Architecture skill'd, A bearded Sage his Castle-Cottage build; Play odd and even; ride his reedy Cane, And yoke his harness'd Mice, 'tis Madness plain. 1796 F. Reynolds Fortune's Fool v. 66 Here (putting money in his hand, and shutting it.)—odd or even for a hundred. 1820 W. Tooke in tr. Lucian Lucian of Samosata I. 549 (note) Some games that were in use at Athens, as dice, cockal, odd and even. 1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxxvii. 149 They presently fell to pitch and toss, chuck-farthing, odd or even. a1869 C. Spence From Braes of Carse (1898) 93 Ye who have often played with Will At odds and evens for a gill. 1870 T. Archer in Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. Suppl. 22 I'll be bound he isn't in his room at all; come, let's go odd or even who shall go and see. 1908 Judge's Libr. Mar. (caption) Well, mate, let's go odd or even to see who's got to eat it. 1953 P. G. Brewster Amer. Nonsinging Games 7 Odd or Even, This game is to be found in all parts of the country. 1969 I. Opie & P. Opie Children's Games vi. 186 The most common of these races is ‘Odds and Evens’, in which the starter..calls out either ‘Odd’ or ‘Even’, and a number. 1972 R. Adams Watership Down xxxi. 236 A very simple kind of gambling, on the lines of ‘Odds or Evens’. 1980 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 20 May ‘But what..was the game they were playing?’ ‘Odd or even... Betting on whether the chapter that comes up when you flip will be odd or even.’ 1991 J. Phillips You'll never eat Lunch in this Town Again (1992) 107 We shoot best two-out-of-three odds and evens every night for who has to sleep in the drawer. 2004 N.Y. Times 26 Jan. b2/5 Me: ‘Let's choose for it. Odds and evens?’ Him: ‘No. Rock paper.’ 2. An odd person or thing (in various senses). Now usually with the: that which is odd; odd persons or things collectively. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [noun] > oddness > that which is odd drollity1639 oddness1713 oddity1739 odd1830 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 505 (MED) Noe of uche honest kynde nem out an odde. 1611 ‘G. Vadianus’ in T. Coryate Crudities sig. l2 ^v Tom is a twinne, and yet an Odde, and both. 1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. ii. vii. 135 I have now and then meddled with an odd or an end. 1833 T. B. Macaulay Horace Walpole in Edinb. Rev. Oct. 238 With the Sublime and the Beautiful Walpole had nothing to do..the Odd, was his peculiar domain. 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. 1988 Nature 17 Nov. 283/2 The so-called ‘scientific’ explanations which scientists..often devise to explain, or explain away, the odd, the marvellous, the praeternatural and the paranormal. 1997 N.Y. Times 24 July c18/1 There are still glimpses..of her Seinfeldian eye for the odd. 3. Golf. A stroke that brings a player's score for a hole to one more than his or her opponent. Frequently in to play the odd. Cf. like n.¹ 6. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > odds or handicaps handicap1871 odd1881 scratch1897 mulligan1936 1881 R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 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. 1899 W. Camp & L. Brooks Drives & Puts iv. 85 Tom playing the odd, put a ball just this side of the green, and Hugh, on the like, made a beautiful iron. 1921 A. Kirkaldy Fifty Yrs. Golf 65 The American had the terrible uphill battle to fight, of playing the odd for his second shot all the way round. 1946 F. Moran Golfers' Gallery ix. 97 Fischer had the advantage from the tee..because it had the Scot playing the odd. 1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf 178 In so doing, he would play the odd. C. adv. †1. a. = oddly adv. 3. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adverb] > particular qualities > not evenly odda1398 oddly1570 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 282^v Hors beþ y-cleped equi..ffor þey beþ y-ioyned and y-coupled in cartes oþer in Chariettes euene and nought odde. b. So as to be separate or distinct; separately, singly. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > separation or isolation > [adverb] odd1567 out1607 ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 4570 Long peeles..fast in Temse did þam stake..agayn þe schippes stod ilk an od. 1567 P. Beverley in G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello Certaine Tragicall Disc. sig. xx.ij Wherin he lyues so odde from right and lawe. 1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued vi I meane professors of the trueth, How far yet live they od! 1862 A. McGilvray Poems (ed. 2) 157 You could not think on sitting odd, 'Mong decent men. 1876 ‘P. Pyper’ Mr. Gray & Neighbours ‘We lives odd, yer honour, in a tent’. ‘Living odd’..means in Marshland phraseology living in a house standing by itself. †2. Extraordinarily, very; truly. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > very tooc888 swith971 wellOE wellOE fullOE rightc1175 muchc1225 wellac1275 gainlya1375 endlyc1440 hard?1440 very1448 odda1500 great1535 jolly1549 fellc1600 veryvery1649 gooda1655 vastly1664 strange1667 bloody1676 ever so1686 heartily1727 real1771 precious1775 quarely1805 murry1818 très1819 freely1820 powerfula1822 gurt1824 almighty1830 heap1832 all-fired1833 gradely1850 real1856 bonny1857 heavens1858 veddy1859 canny1867 some1867 oh-so1881 storming1883 spanking1886 socking1896 hefty1898 velly1898 fair dinkum1904 plurry1907 Pygmalion1914 dinkum1915 beaucoup1918 dirty1920 molto1923 snorting1924 honking1929 hellishing1931 thumpingly1948 way1965 mega1966 mondo1968 seriously1970 totally1972 mucho1978 stonking1990 a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 159 (MED) These kynges were odde noble knyghtes. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 7466 His armour was od good. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 10839 Pantasilia..That honerable Ector od myche louyt. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 9597 Deffibus..Pletid vnto Paris..Whether the Duke were od dede. 3. = oddly adv. 4. Now nonstandard. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adverb] > oddly odd1603 oddlya1616 quirkishly1673 queerly1698 singularly1752 quarely1805 rumly1819 funnily1837 peculiarly1847 funny1852 rummily1891 quirkily1926 off1966 1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 171 How strange or odde soere I beare my selfe. a1869 C. Spence From Braes of Carse (1898) 195 Wha e'er of silken gouns shall bode Will get a sleeve, or things gae odd. 1956 B. Frechtman tr. H. Noma Zone of Emptiness xv. 223 Sergeant, don't you think that Soda's been acting odd? 1998 A. Warner Sopranos 261 Michelle McLaughlin looked a bit odd in Kay's direction. Compounds C1. a. Parasynthetic. (a) (In sense A. 2.) odd-numbered adj. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [adjective] > describing particular qualities > odd odda1398 imparc1430 uneven1577 unequal1697 odd-numbered1850 1850 Jrnl. Constit. Convent. of Michigan 87 The senators chosen by odd numbered districts shall go out of office at the expiration of two years. 1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xx. 445 James proved that the sum of the odd-numbered terms is to the sum of the even-numbered terms as 2ⁿ − 1 is to 1. 2001 FHM Feb. 173/1 TV pictures are made up in two stages—all the odd-numbered horizontal lines appear first and the even numbered ones second. odd-toed adj. ΚΠ 1848 R. Owen in Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. 4 i. 127 Odd-toed (perissodactyle) Pachyderms. 1872 H. A. Nicholson Man. Palæontol. 424 The hind feet are odd-toed. 1970 R. M. Black Elements Palaeontol. xviii. 290 The living members of this group, sometimes referred to as the ‘odd-toed’ ungulates, include the horse, zebra and rhinoceros. 1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus xi. 181 The formerly dominant order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates. (b) (In sense A. 9.) † odd-conceited adj. Obsolete ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd quaintc1325 awkc1440 queer?a1513 odd1578 quaintish1594 odd-conceiteda1616 odd-ceited1652 whimsical1675 singulara1684 eccentric1685 oddish1705 rummish1709 comical1713 odd-like1718 rum1750 queerish1775 funny1793 quare1805 rummy1828 kinky1844 quirkish1848 quirky1873 odd-gates1906 funny-peculiar1916 antrin1925 off-brand1929 fanciful- a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. vii. 46 Ile knit it vp in silken strings, With twentie od-conceited true-loue knots. View more context for this quotation 1678 E. Ravenscroft Eng. Lawyer iv. i. 49 Euh, what an odd conceited fellow was this! odd-humoured adj. ΚΠ 1611 ‘G. Vadianus’ in T. Coryate Crudities sig. l^v A musicall note containing foure odde humoured crochets. 1665 M. Nedham Medela Medicinæ 41 If an odd-humor'd disease happen. 1984 Sports Illustr. (Nexis) 19 Mar. 20 Thompson at his gruff, meanspirited, iconoclastic and odd-humored best. odd-mannered adj. ΚΠ 1866 Galaxy 15 Oct. 312 A freckled brown skin, and red hair, and large mouth, and so odd-mannered. 1991 A. Hankinson First Bull Run 3 Their candidate was a big, strong, gangling, odd-mannered frontiersman. odd-peaked adj. ΚΠ 1955 J. Cahill Experiences Smaller Stores 145 The two-storied gray shingled building with odd-peaked roof has been somewhat modernized. odd-shaped adj. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > [adjective] > having odd shape odd-shaped1704 the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > irregular in shape uneven1398 bastard1418 raggedc1450 odd1508 unruled1551 irregular1584 inordinate1667 rambling1676 odd-shaped1704 bizarre1824 scrawled1895 raggedy1896 scrawly1901 free-form1942 1704 W. Brodie Let. 6 Mar. in R. Wodrow Early Lett. xxv He [sc. a virtuoso] is ravished at finding an uncommon shell or an odd shaped stone. 1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour iii. xiv. 73 An irregular mass of towers, turrets, and odd-shaped chimneys. 1997 Naše Rodina June 52/1 Vases, teapots..and other odd-shaped pieces are..made from molds. † odd sighted adj. Obsolete ΚΠ 1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 505 What an odd sighted Examiner I have to deal with; that..can see in Books what never was there. odd-tempered adj. ΚΠ 1768 J. Cremer Jrnl. 19 July in R. R. Bellamy Ramblin' Jack (1936) 142 My Aunt..was an od Tempered woman for me to live with. 1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers III. xv. 255 The skill of this odd-tempered, shabby old man was sometimes sought by the jeweller who kept the more ostentatious shop in the High Street. 1918 M. A. Lowndes Out of the War? vi. 91 She had given herself up entirely to the pleasant..task of cheering up the odd-tempered and queer-natured naval officer whom Fate had flung across her path. 2002 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 19 May 11 If High Pitched wasn't already such a valuable stud prospect it would be worth making him a castrato to clear up the odd-tempered nonsense he shows before his races. b. The adjective or adverb with a participle. † odd contrived adj. Obsolete ΚΠ 1653 J. Collinges Responsoria ad Erratica Piscatoris 6 There were some judicious and sober men were against tying up minds to forms, the same form constantly, and such an odd-contrived forme as that was. a1682 Sir T. Browne Certain Misc. Tracts (1683) vii. 127 If he delighteth in odd contrived phancies. odd-looking adj. ΚΠ 1724 E. Ward Dancing Devils 52 Again comes merry Harlequin, Disguis'd like an odd looking Fellow. 1863 N. Hawthorne Our Old Home I. 19 The bobtailed coat and mixed trousers constituted a very odd-looking court-dress. 1996 E. Lovelace Salt ii. 13 A stranger, asking for work, odd-looking beside the labouring men in raggedy work clothes. odd-sounding adj. ΚΠ 1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 45 Such far-fetch'd and odd-sounding Expressions. 1853 E. C. Gaskell Cranford vii. 131 There she sat, as stately and composed as though we had never heard that odd-sounding cough. 1988 G. Somerset Sunshine & Shadow 139 Any persons with an odd sounding name were sent to the immigration barracks. † odd-thinking adj. Obsolete ΚΠ 1717 M. Prior Alma iii. 47 Some odd-thinking youth, Less friend to doctrine than to truth. † odd-turned adj. Obsolete ΚΠ 1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 47 He had an odd-turned mind, and a bad heart. c. The adjective prefixed to a noun, forming a phrase used attributively. odd-number adj. ΚΠ 1922 F. F. Potter Teaching of Arithm. xvii. 325 The simple odd-number series. 1996 Jrnl. Appl. Ecol. 33 270/2 One pitfall trap..was placed at all odd-number trap stations..and Sherman live traps were placed at the remaining stations. odd-order adj. ΚΠ 1901 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 202 The higher odd-order derivatives. 1991 Acta Metallurgica et Materialia 39 2640/1 Odd order coefficients obtained by fitting Gaussian components to the experimental data were added. odd-parity adj. ΚΠ 1950 R. W. Hamming in Bell Syst. Techn. Jrnl. 29 150 Had we used an odd number of 1's to determine the setting of the check position it would have been an odd parity check. 1967 Bodl. Libr. Rec. 8 3 The second drawback is the use of an odd-parity code, with seven-hole punching necessary for a plain tape-feed. 1996 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 452 1173 The particle will end up predominantly in the first excited state, i.e. in the lowest (single-node) odd-parity state. C2. odd-and-end adj. now rare consisting of odds and ends (see odds n. 7); miscellaneous. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective] > miscellaneous or heterogeneous > incongruously mixed medleya1400 intermellé1487 farraginary1538 hotchpotch1556 promiscuous1579 hotchpot1588 pied1594 motley1601 hodge-podge1602 promiscual1602 macaronic1611 farraginous1616 throughother1626 mishmash1652 promiscous1656 hotchpotchly1674 hodge-podging1772 hashy1781 mixty-maxty1786 motleyed1798 gallimaufrical1836 odd-and-end1836 chow-chow1844 speckled1845 ragbag1882 disherent1890 1836 F. W. Thomas East & West I. xxiii. 219 Sam, who played the fiddle at parties, and did odd-and-end jobs about, by which he lived. 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. 1986 18th-cent. Stud. 20 108 Dietze indicates odd-and-end passages that give rise to uncertainty about interpretation of the texts. odd bod n. [shortened < odd body n.: compare bod n.¹] colloquial a person who is odd, strange, or eccentric. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > slight madness > crankiness or eccentricity > person fantastical1589 fantastic1598 earwig brain1599 extravagant1627 fanatic1644 energumen1660 original1675 toy-pate1702 gig1777 quiz1780 quoz?1780 rum touch1800 crotcheteer1815 pistol1828 eccentric1832 case1833 originalist1835 cure1856 crotchet-monger1874 curiosity1874 crank1881 crackpot1883 faddist1883 schwärmer1884 hard case1892 finger1899 mad hatter1905 nut1908 numéro1924 screwball1933 wack1938 fruitcake1942 odd bod1942 oddball1943 ghoster1953 raver1959 kook1960 flake1968 woo-woo1972 zonky1972 wacko1977 headbanger1981 the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [noun] > oddness > odd person singularist1593 singularitan1615 queer fellow1712 oddity1731 unaccountable1748 character1773 rum1788 eccentric1832 card1835 card1853 hard case1892 queer shot1900 rummy1909 hard thing1918 hardshot1924 quaint1939 odd bod1942 oddball1943 joker in the pack1963 quirky1975 1942 T. Kitching Diary 28 May in Life & Death in Changi (1998) vi. 101 Two hundred more are coming in, some say from Padang and Sumatra... Others say they are odd-bods from all over the place. 1975 ‘J. Bell’ Victim iv. 53 A lot of odd-bod geriatrics that'd all be better off in the grave. 1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 285 We get some Guild people and one or two odd bods like the woman who tries to encourage children to act. odd body n. a person who does not fit into any grouping or category; (now) esp. one who is strange or eccentric. ΚΠ 1724 J. Gay Lett. (1966) 47 In all probability some odd Bodys, being left out we shall soon have the pleasure of being divided into Factions. 1801 W. Dimond Sea-side Story i. ii. 25 Here's the strangest odd body of an Irish gentlewoman down stairs, that ever I saw. 1985 W. Sheed Frank & Maisie viii. 194 The tutors themselves were nice oddbodies, one with black hair and a red beard who argued after-hours about theocracy. † odd-ceited adj. Obsolete = odd-conceited adj. at Compounds 1a(b). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd quaintc1325 awkc1440 queer?a1513 odd1578 quaintish1594 odd-conceiteda1616 odd-ceited1652 whimsical1675 singulara1684 eccentric1685 oddish1705 rummish1709 comical1713 odd-like1718 rum1750 queerish1775 funny1793 quare1805 rummy1828 kinky1844 quirkish1848 quirky1873 odd-gates1906 funny-peculiar1916 antrin1925 off-brand1929 fanciful- 1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew iv. i. sig. L1^v I have heard much of this old od-ceited Justice Clack. odd-even adj. relating to or involving an odd number and an even number; (Nuclear Physics) designating nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an even number of neutrons. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective] > relating to mass number odd-even1899 odd-odd1924 1899 H. E. Cushman tr. W. Windelband Hist. Anc. Philos. a. xxiv. 96 In this way the Pythagorean system got a dualistic cast, which is noticeable in all its parts; but this was theoretically overcome by the fact that since the One, the odd-even primitive number, creates both series from itself, so also all the antitheses of the cosmic life are in a grand harmonious unity. 1949 G. Gamow & C. L. Critchfield Theory Atomic Nucleus iv. 88 δA = 0 for even-even nuclei, = 1 for odd-even nuclei, = 2 for odd-odd nuclei. 1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 7280/1 For the 28 bands of even-odd or odd-even nuclei in the tables, the extra n or p is considered to occupy an s orbital. 1996 R. Swettenham in J. Borwick Sound Recording Pract. (ed. 4) vii. 156 In some lowerpriced consoles the number of buttons is halved and labelled ‘1-2’, etc., with further ‘odd-even’ switches. odd-gates adj. [compare gate n.² 9b] regional odd, strange, out of the way. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > [adjective] > odd quaintc1325 awkc1440 queer?a1513 odd1578 quaintish1594 odd-conceiteda1616 odd-ceited1652 whimsical1675 singulara1684 eccentric1685 oddish1705 rummish1709 comical1713 odd-like1718 rum1750 queerish1775 funny1793 quare1805 rummy1828 kinky1844 quirkish1848 quirky1873 odd-gates1906 funny-peculiar1916 antrin1925 off-brand1929 fanciful- 1906 R. Kipling Puck of Pook's Hill 263 Won'erful odd-gates place—Romney Marsh. 1957 H. Hall Parish's Dict. Sussex Dial. (new ed.) 88/2 Oddgaits, extraordinary. ‘It's an odd-gaits sort of place.’ odd-horse n. (a) regional a horse employed in doing odd jobs (see sense A. 8f); †(b) = odd man out n. (a) at odd man n. Compounds (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > choosing by casting lots > specific mode of singling out by lot odd man1743 odd-horse1801 odd man out1840 1801 Sporting Mag. 19 115 No cards, dice, odd-horse, or tossing-up to be permitted. 1894 Northumberland Words The horse he [sc. the odd-laddy] drives is called the odd-horse. a1903 D. W. Lewin in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 324/2 [Kent] They take the odd horse for that. † odd-mark n. Obsolete regional that portion of the arable land which is set apart for a particular crop on a farm operating crop rotation. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > broken land > arable or ploughed land > portion for specific crop odd-mark1804 1804 J. Duncumb Coll. Hist. County Hereford I. 214 The odd-mark, one third of the arable land of a farm. 1855 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 16 ii. 557 Supposing his oddmark of wheat about 20 acres..he sacrificed the full amount of the half year's rent. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 306 Odd-mark, that portion of the arable land of a farm set apart for a particular crop as it comes in order of rotation. odd-odd adj. relating to or involving two odd numbers; (Nuclear Physics) designating nuclei containing an odd number of protons and an odd number of neutrons. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > [adjective] > relating to mass number odd-even1899 odd-odd1924 1924 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 46 151 All the..odd-odd transvectants of the double form F with itself will vanish identically. 1937 Physical Rev. 51 951/2 The condition..for the instability of odd-odd nuclei should read g + 2gσ < gm. 1967 New Scientist 21 Sept. 598/2 The new mendelevium isotope, with 101 protons and 157 neutrons, falls into the odd-odd class. 1992 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 7278/1 The even-odd, odd-even, and odd-odd nuclei have extra p, n, or pn in an orbital such as s with no orbital angular momentum. odd-pinnate adj. Botany (of a leaf) pinnate with an odd terminal leaflet. ΚΠ 1859 A. Gray How Plants Grow i. 52 Odd-pinnate, when there is an odd leaflet at the end, as in the Common Locust..and in the Ash. 1975 R. H. Mohlenbrock Guide to Vascular Flora Illinois 278 Leaves odd-pinnate. odd trick n. Cards (in Whist) the thirteenth trick, won by one side after each side has won six; (in Bridge) each trick after six won by the declarer; also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > whist > [noun] > actions or tactics > tricks or taking tricks odd trick1710 slam1755 bumper1791 sweep1879 1710 Brit. Apollo 13–15 Feb. The Party..got..the Odd Trick. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ix. 328 It is not necessary then that he should have bowels for the poor, so he can secure for his family the odd trick. 1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park II. vii. 154 Being just then in the happy leisure which followed securing the odd trick by Sir Thomas's capital play and her own, against Dr. and Mrs. Grant's great hands. View more context for this quotation 1886 J. Collinson Biritch 3 The odd tricks count as follows:—If ‘Biritch’ is declared each [odd trick counts] 10 points. 1900 R. F. Foster Bridge Man. 55 A player should always go over when he has any chance for the odd trick. 1990 D. Parlett Oxf. Guide Card Games xvii. 215 Players bid against their opponents by raising the numbers of odd tricks they are offering to win in order to advance their score. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online June 2022). oddv. Brit. /ɒd/, U.S. /ɑd/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: odd adj. Etymology: < odd adj. Compare odds v. rare. English regional (Lancashire) in later use. transitive. To make odd or irregular.In quot. 1886 used with sense ‘to redress an inequality, to equalize’. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > duration of notes > proportion of notes or rhythm > [verb (transitive)] > syncopate odd1597 syncope1728 syncopate1776 1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 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. 1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases 63 The pastime of New Market fell on inconvenient days, and was odded by changing the date on which it should occur in future. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.²1869adj.n.¹adv.a1325v.1597
随便看	alembroth-salt alembrothsalt aleme alemeat alemonger alene alength alençon alençon lace alençon point aleph aleph null aleph-zero alephs alephzero alepole aleppine aleppo aleppo bouton aleppo button aleppo gall aleppo oak aleppo oak gall aleppo pepper aleppo rue

oddn.2

oddadj.n.1adv.

Compounds

oddv.

oddn.²

oddadj.n.¹adv.