oddment

American  

[od-muhnt] / ˈɒd mənt /

noun

1. an odd article, bit, remnant, or the like.

2. an article belonging to a broken or incomplete set.

3. Printing. any individual portion of a book excluding the text, as the frontispiece or index.

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oddment British  

/ ˈɒdmənt /

noun

1. (often plural) an odd piece or thing; leftover

2. (plural) pieces of wool, such as belly wool or neck wool, removed from a fleece and sold separately

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Etymology

Origin of oddment

First recorded in 1790–1800; odd + -ment

Explanation

Oddments are leftover bits or pieces of something larger. Those fabric scraps you're stitching together into a quilt are oddments. You might refer to oddments as "odds and ends," or "remnants." After constructing a desk out of pine, you might use the oddments to make a wooden picture frame. And once you're finished cutting out biscuits, don't throw away the oddments of dough — you can bake those too!This noun can also be used for quirky collectibles, like the oddments your grandparents keep in their china cabinet.

Example Sentences

The flourlike beaches of Boracay, a narrow oddment of land a brief boat ride from the mainland town of Caticlan, have drawn throngs of foreigners since the '80s.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2013

The brothers’ disquieting art films are largely created with stop-motion animation, whereby the illusion of movement is achieved by painstakingly nudging each oddment — say, a puppet or a wood screw — within a scene.

From New York Times • Oct. 15, 2010

His game was, he picked out an oddment from the heap, polished it, fitted it more or less into the silly puzzle, and stepped back to eye it.

From Foe-Farrell by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

I believe he expected me to give him a receipt in round hundreds and take the "oddment," as we call it in Warwickshire, for myself.

From Pan-Islam by Bury, G. Wyman (George Wyman)

Related Words

• odds and ends