odd

A victorious outcome determined by the person or team who wins the majority of an odd number of games (three, five, seven, etc.). I love the Stanley Cup Playoffs more than other sports championships because the fact that's it's the best of seven means a team can have an off day but still rally to win the whole thing. A: "Fancy playing a round of tennis." B: "Sure! Best of five?"

Of a pair of people, things, or groups, to be connected in a certain situation or activity but to be extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc. A notorious playboy musician and a buttoned-up media pundit may make odd bedfellows, but the two are coming together this month to bring a spotlight to suicide awareness. I thought that the two writers would make odd bedfellows for this class, given the drastically different nature of their writing, but their books actually have a lot of parallels in terms of themes and constructs.

Strange and intriguing. We've had some odd and curious findings ever since making that change to the experiment.

A pair of people, things, or groups connected in a certain situation or activity but extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc. A notorious playboy musician and an ultra-conservative media pundit may be odd bedfellows, but the two are coming together all this month to bring a spotlight to suicide awareness. I thought that the two writers would make odd bedfellows, given the drastically different nature of their writing, but the books they've co-written actually work really well.

A rather unusual, strange, eccentric, or peculiar person. His new girlfriend is nice enough, but she's a bit of an odd bird, don't you think?

A particularly unlikely or mismatched pair of people. Though the senator and her running mate are quite the odd couple on paper, the partnership is clearly intended to broaden the scope of her appeal to voters in the upcoming election. We're a bit of an odd couple, all right, but the differences between my girlfriend and I seem to balance each other out.

A rather unusual, strange, or peculiar person. His new girlfriend is nice enough, but she's a bit of an odd duck, don't you think?

Someone deemed strange by others. No, I didn't invite Joey—he's an odd fish, if you ask me. You can't say weird stuff like that, unless you want everyone else to think you're an odd fish.

A miscellaneous, nonspecialized job or task. My grandparents always had a few odd jobs for us to do around their house if we were ever looking to earn a bit of extra cash as kids. He's been earning a living as a handyman of sorts, doing odd jobs for people around town.

antiquated A minced oath for "God's body," expressing surprise, shock, or astonishment. Odds bodkins, the bill for dinner is nearly $200!

A pair of people, things, or groups connected in a certain situation or activity but extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc. A notorious playboy musician and an ultra-conservative media pundit may be strange bedfellows, but the two are coming together all this month to bring a spotlight to suicide awareness. I thought that the two writers would make strange bedfellows, given the drastically different nature of their writing, but the books they've co-written actually work really well.

an unusual or atypical person or thing. I'm odd man out because I'm not wearing a tie. You had better learn to use the new system software unless you want to be odd man out.

an extra or spare something; a chance something. The tailor repaired the odd loose button on my shirt. When I travel, I might buy the odd trinket or two, but I never spend much money.

see under strange bedfellows.

A peculiar alliance or combination, as in George and Arthur really are strange bedfellows, sharing the same job but totally different in their views . Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s. This particular idiom may have been invented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (2:2), "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Today a common extension is politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form peculiar associations so as to win more votes. A similar term is odd couple, a pair who share either housing or a business but are very different in most ways. This term gained currency with Neil Simon's Broadway play The Odd Couple and, even more, with the motion picture (1968) and subsequent television series based on it, contrasting housemates Felix and Oscar, one meticulously neat and obsessively punctual, the other extremely messy and casual.

One of a group who is not selected or included, or who differs markedly from the others. At first applied only to persons, the term later was extended also to inanimate objects, as in “This checkered tablecloth is odd man out in a formal dining room.”

An odd couple; a peculiar combination. Shakespeare appears to have originated the term, with his “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” (The Tempest, 2.2). Several centuries later, Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote (The Caxtons, 1849), “Poverty has strange bedfellows.” Today we often say that politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form odd associations in order to win more support or votes.

An archaic interjection meaning “God's body.” In an era where people respected the Ten Commandments a lot more than we do today, the injuncTion against taking the name of the Lord in vain led to a variety of euphemisms. One involved using the word “bodkins,” the tools that shoemakers and other leatherworkers use to pierce holes, for “body.” The most convincing explanation is that “bodkins” sounds a lot like “body,” but there's no explanation for the plural. Therefore, when a cobbler hit his thumb while resoling a shoe, he was likely to wince and exclaim, “Odd's bodkins,” if not something worse. Henry Fielding was the first author to use the phrase in close to its present form in his Don Quixote in England: “Odsbodlikins . . . you have a strange sort of a taste.” Similar oaths that avoided naming the diety used “'s” as an abbreviation of “God's,” such as “s'wounds,” “s'blood,” and “s'truth.” However, it's unlikely that Ira Gershwin had that in mind when he wrote the lyrics to “S'Wonderful.”