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definitions

odds and ends

See more synonyms for odds and ends on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. miscellaneous items, matters, etc.
  2. fragments; remnants; scraps; bits.

Origin of odds and ends

First recorded in 1740–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for odds and ends

assortment, debris, hodgepodge, jumble, litter, medley, melee, miscellany, mishmash, motley, olio, patchwork, potpourri, rags, refuse, remainder, remains, rest, rubbish, rummage

Examples from the Web for odds and ends

Historical Examples of odds and ends

  • Some talked frocks, some music, some picture-palaces, some odds-and-ends.

    Nights in London

    Thomas Burke

  • So when they got home her godmother went to her odds-and-ends drawer.

    A Great Emergency and Other Tales

    Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing

  • Poor little gentlefolk, the odds-and-ends of existence, the pence and threepenny bits of human life!

  • Very frequently the odds-and-ends corner of the garden is the most attractive feature in it.

    Amateur Gardencraft

    Eben E. Rexford

  • A grated floor formed a small chamber immediately under the roof, where baskets and odds-and-ends are stowed away.

British Dictionary definitions for odds and ends

odds and ends

pl n
  1. miscellaneous items or articles
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with odds and ends

odds and ends

Miscellaneous items, fragments and remnants, as in I've finished putting everything away, except for a few odds and ends. This expression may have originated as odd ends in the mid-1500s, meaning “short leftovers of some material” (such as lumber or cloth). It had acquired its present form and meaning by the mid-1700s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.