odd-job

American  

[od-job] / ˈɒdˌdʒɒb /

verb (used without object)

odd-jobbed, odd-jobbing

1. to work at a series of unrelated or unspecialized jobs, often of a low-paying or menial nature.

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Other Word Forms

• odd jobber
  noun
• odd-jobber
  noun

Etymology

Origin of odd-job

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

odd-job odd-jobbed odd-jobbing

To pay the family’s bills, his wife took in odd-job sewing work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026

The Corbett Hotel's odd-job boy Alan Finlay, then 13, greeted the superstars as they arrived.

From BBC ● May 26, 2025

Panting heavily after digging the grave, shaking his head in dismay, local locksmith and odd-job man Urii Churachenko bent down and placed two cigarettes in the earth as a token for his friend.

From Reuters ● Apr. 5, 2022

For some reason Midorikawa seemed to have taken a deep interest in this young odd-job worker.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2014

Mr. Magnet and Toupee had gone to stare at the monoplane; they were presently joined by the odd-job man in an interrogative mood.

From Marriage by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

Son of a poverty-plagued Presbyterian minister, he odd-jobbed his way through Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash., washing his own clothes, living at times in a tent.

From Time Magazine Archive

But, bitten by the acting bug when odd-jobbing at a local theatre, he decided a footballer's career was potentially too short and opted to pursue his luck on the stage.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2020

He and a girl friend took off for five months of thumb-tripping and odd-jobbing in Yugoslavia.

From Time Magazine Archive

What do you do in the wintertime when there isn't much odd-jobbing?

From Captivating Mary Carstairs by Crosby, Raymond Moreau