odd mann.

1445 in W. Fraser Melvilles & Leslies (1890) III. 30 The saide Schir Androwe and Johnne sale appere in Perth..befor thir five personis undirwirtyne [four names given] ande Schir Jamys of Auchinlek,..knycht, as od man.

1487–8 in J. Fullarton Rec. Burgh Prestwick (1834) 32 Thai batht tuk Michel Masoun of Aire the oyd man for thaim batht.

1530 W. Tyndale Pract. Prelates sig. Cviij That vi. lordes of Almanye..with the kinge of Bohem the seuenth to be the odde man & umpere, shuld chose him for euer.

1581 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 231/1 Quharethrow his hines as odman and owrisman commonlie chosin be bath the saidis partijs..may gif finall decisioun.

1689 R. Milward Selden's Table-talk 16 They talk (but blasphemously enough) that the Holy Ghost is President of their General-Councils, when the truth is, the odd man is still the Holy-Ghost.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. v. 62 This fifth was the odd man whose casting vote would turn the scale.

1921 J. Bryce Mod. Democracies xiv. 146 In the General Councils of the mediaeval Church it was asked whether when a point of doctrine had to be decided by a vote, infallibility dwelt in the odd man.

1962 M. A. Horowitz Struct. & Govt. Carpenters' Union vi. 127 The board itself is composed of nine members, the odd man being the impartial chairman.

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

1852 J. White in Househ. Words Christmas 31/1 Peter became the odd-man of the town.

1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xx. 237 Bathsheba—who was driven to the fair that day by her odd man Poorgrass.

1890 W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy & Other Tales 161 A chamber-maid and a nondescript ‘odd-man’, constituted her staff of assistants.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 27 June 9/1 Employment as porter, odd-man, lift-man, or door-man.

1930 F. B. Young Jim Redlake ii. viii. 221 The horses that drew this amazing vehicle,..the odd man, masquerading as a footman..might have been drawn from the same dusty depository as the dray itself.

1960 Recorded Interview (Brit. Libr. Sound Archive) (Survey Eng. Dialects: C908) Track 22 [Wiltshire]Recordist. What do you call the man on a farm who does any sort of a job? Speaker. Any kind of a job, doesn't turn down anything. Odd-man. I'm the odd man now.

1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 210/1 Oddman, the chap employed to do odd jobs around the place.

1841 C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxxvi. 298 Going the odd man or plain Newmarket for fruit, ginger-beer.

1841 Punch 23 Oct. 177/1 He proposes at lunch-time every day that he and his companions should ‘go the odd man for a pot’.

1840 Times 1 June 8 (advt.) As Groom, or odd man out, of the house, a remarkably sober and respectable young man from the country, age 28, who can drive a pair, and has a good knowledge of a garden and meadow land.

1858 C. R. Thatcher Colonial Songster (rev. ed.) 16 The pleasures found in history, Some fools will prate about; 'Tis insignificant, compared With ‘three up’, or ‘odd man out’.

1873 Placerville (Calif.) Mountain Democrat 4 Jan. 1/6 We leave the reader to determine where the fallacy is, with just a warning to think twice before deciding as to which, if any of the travelers was the odd man out.

1928 F. W. Crofts Sea Myst. xvi. 263 Mrs. Berlyn as hostess would reasonably be the odd man out when the change was made from snooker to billiards.

1956 R. G. Edwards Overlander Songbk. 63 At ten o'clock we'd then toss up to see who was to shout, And if there were but three of us, we did it ‘odd man out’.

1970 Guardian 19 Nov. 11/4 The products..would look odd men out in a formal setting.

2000 Denver Post 2 Sept. f14/1 A reorganization within CNN..left him odd man out.

1884 St. James's Gaz. 5 Dec. 6/1 At coin-spinning the game generally played is ‘odd man wins’.