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Fine Dictionary

odds

ɑdz
WordNet
Wooden model of an oddly shaped anchor. The anchor pole and arms have been switched places. The shaft is flat and widens halfway to form the curved back arms, to which is attached a curved oval copper plate with pointed ends. The straight anchor pole is very thick, approximately triangular in cross section, the sharp part pointing backwards, and pivots on the shaft. The weight of the anchor pole and the oval shape of the arms ensure the correct anchor position. One harp at the tip of the anchor stick and one at the top of the shaft.
Wooden model of an oddly shaped anchor. The anchor pole and arms have been switched places. The shaft is flat and widens halfway to form the curved back arms, to which is attached a curved oval copper plate with pointed ends. The straight anchor pole is very thick, approximately triangular in cross section, the sharp part pointing backwards, and pivots on the shaft. The weight of the anchor pole and the oval shape of the arms ensure the correct anchor position. One harp at the tip of the anchor stick and one at the top of the shaft.
  1. (n) odds
    the likelihood of a thing occurring rather than not occurring
  2. (n) odds
    the ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that of another "he offered odds of two to one"
Illustrations
Sheet with 12 depictions of a house and staff who perform odd jobs in and around the house, including a seamstress, a cook and the nanny in the Dutch East Indies. Underneath each image a caption in Malay and Dutch. Numbered top right: No. 1.
Sheet with 12 depictions of a house and staff who perform odd jobs in and around the house, including a seamstress, a cook and the nanny in the Dutch East Indies. Underneath each image a caption in Malay and Dutch. Numbered top right: No. 1.
Sheet with 10 performances about the housekeeper Johanna who does all kinds of odd jobs on her father's farm. A caption below each image. Numbered top right: No 391.
Sheet with 10 performances about the housekeeper Johanna who does all kinds of odd jobs on her father's farm. A caption below each image. Numbered top right: No 391.
Painting in the library with the saying: Are science and art often at odds with each other, here the science of art is dedicated a room
Painting in the library with the saying: Are science and art often at odds with each other, here the science of art is dedicated a room
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Interesting fact
The odds of being born male are about 51.2%, according to census.
  1. odds
    Inequality; difference, especially in favor of one and against another; excess in favor of one as compared with another.
  2. odds
    Hence Advantage; superiority.
  3. odds
    In betting, the amount or proportion by which the bet of one party to a wager exceeds that of the other: as, to lay or give odds.
  4. odds
    Hence Probability or degree of probability in favor of that on which odds are laid.
  5. odds
    In certain games, equalizing allowance given to a weaker side or player by a stronger, as a piece at chess or points at tennis; an allowance as handicap.
  6. odds
    Er. You that are so good a Gamester ought to give me Odds.
  7. odds
    Quarrel; dispute; debate.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Interesting fact
Of the 15,000-odd known species of orchids in the world, 3,000 of them can be found in Brazil.
  1. (n.pl) Odds
    odz inequality: difference in favour of one against another: more than an even wager: the amount or proportion by which the bet of one exceeds that of another: advantage: dispute: scraps, miscellaneous pieces, as in the phrase Odds and ends (lit. 'points' and ends)
Quotations
Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.
Arnold Palmer
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Is it not odd that the only generous person I ever knew, who had money to be generous with, should be a stockbroker.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Thomas B. Macaulay
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?
Thomas B. Macaulay
Theodore Roethke
What is madness but nobility of soul. At odds with circumstance?
Theodore Roethke
Tom Stoppard
Life is a gamble at terrible odds, if it were a bet, you would not take it.
Tom Stoppard
I like to be against the odds. I'm not afraid to be lonely at the top. With me, it's just the satisfaction of the game. Just performance.
Barry Bonds
Idioms

At odds - If you are at odds with someone, you cannot agree with them and argue.

Odds and ends - Odds and ends are small, remnant articles and things- the same as 'bits and bobs'.

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary See Odd (a.)

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary Scand., Ice. oddi, a triangle, odd number—Ice. oddr, point; cf. A.S. ord, point.

Usage in the news

Potato chip lovers are an odd bunch -- most stick to a single flavor and refuse to be convinced that salt and vinegar is, in fact, better than barbecue (it is, for the record). pitch.com

Bannerman 's Castle, the romantic turn-of-the-century ruin on an island in the middle of the Hudson River, has withstood storms and fires over the past hundred-odd years. nymag.com

Defying the odds, Boulder country-rock group is riding hard. boulderweekly.com

When a single animal beaches itself, the odds against its survival are great, according to SeaWorld. orlandosentinel.com

The two have become a political odd couple since the storm — each offering praise for the other's leadership. ktep.org

Google's 11th Birthday Gift : Another Odd Logo. pcmag.com

Madonna was in Washington, DC on Monday, and offered an odd take on politics and President Barack Obama. blog.seattlepi.com

What are the odds of that happening. catcountry1073.com

An odd couple on the surface By Michael O'Sullivan Friday, Mar 23, 2012. ashingtonpost.com

In SPIN's eight-out-of-10 review of Yeasayer's 2010 album Odd Blood, we praised the Brooklyn psych-rockers' bold and flamboyant dance sound, and asked, "What's coming next". spin.com

Fifty-Fifty: The Odds of Graduating. bez.org

Odds are you haven't either. ocweekly.com

Twenty years after high school graduation, if anyone has become famous or infamous, odds are it isn't the star quarterback. cleveland.com

Each year, Las Cruces and Dona Ana County see a fair share of odd and unusual news events. lcsun-news.com

Spreading Risk, Increasing Your Odds. cedmag.com

Usage in scientific papers

In sections 8 and 9, we use the strategies in sections 6 and 7 to treat the special cases when f has a periodic point of odd period m ≥ 3 but no periodic points of odd periods ℓ with ℓ odd and 1 < ℓ < m.
A collection of simple proofs of Sharkovsky's theorem

Since g has no periodic points of any odd periods ≥ 3, g has period-(2j ) points which are also period-(2j ) points of f for all odd j ≥ 3.
A collection of simple proofs of Sharkovsky's theorem

Since g has no period-j points for any odd 3 ≤ j ≤ m − 2, g has period-(2j ) points for all odd 3 ≤ j ≤ m which are also periodic points of f with the same periods.
A collection of simple proofs of Sharkovsky's theorem

If r is odd, let J0 be the smallest closed interval which contains f i (xs ) for all even i in [0, r − 1] and let J1 be the smallest closed interval which contains f j (xs ) for all odd j in [1, r ].
A collection of simple proofs of Sharkovsky's theorem

In the following, we show that if m ≥ 3 is odd and f has no period-ℓ points with ℓ odd and 1 < ℓ < m, then P is a ˇStefan orbit and f has periodic points of all even periods and all periods > m.
A collection of simple proofs of Sharkovsky's theorem

Usage in literature

When anything happens in an odd way at sea, it is as odd again as anything that occurs on land, my boy, you may depend. "Varney the Vampire" by Thomas Preskett Prest

I often wonder whether, if he had been franker, I should have found him less odd than I supposed, or more odd still. "Uncle Silas" by J. S. LeFanu

Square the odds, and good-night Sir Walter about sixty. "The Journal of Sir Walter Scott" by Walter Scott

Odd how one nation's prettiness is another's grotesque. "A Wanderer in Holland" by E. V. Lucas

Jim Morris, Professor of Odd Jobs for the country side, made the coffin, dug the grave, and managed the funeral. "Ishmael" by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

Oddly enough she looked at her gown. "Kenny" by Leona Dalrymple

He was set to do odd jobs about the farm. "In Clive's Command" by Herbert Strang

It seemed odd to think that such a short while before it had been in the hands of a Boche. "Fanny Goes to War" by Pat Beauchamp

She drank it, and an odd sparkle of mischief shot up in her great eyes. "The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories" by Ethel M. Dell

What an odd queer kind of fortune had been told her! "The Chink in the Armour" by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Usage in poetry
And last of all God fashioned a form,
And gave it, what was odd,
The loyal heart, and the roving eye;
And he whistled, light of care.
Lady, who are these others in the moon's vat —-
Sleepdrunk, their limbs at odds?
In this light the blood is black.
Tell me my name.
I live in earth, which is not odd;
But lo, I also live in God:
A spirit without flesh and blood,
Yet with them both to yield me food.
Though we assume with lapsing breath
Eternal is the sleep of death,
Would it not be divinely odd
To wake and find that - "God is God."
But I hope that the preacher will not think
It unorthodox and odd
If I add that I glimpse in "the Mistress"
A hint of the Unknown God.
But put together, odds and ends,
Picked up from enemies and friends
See, bits of thread, and bits of rag,
Just like a little rubbish-bag!