1738. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. Col. Miss, when will you be married? Miss. One of these odd-come-shortly's, Colonel.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, xvii. They say she is to be . . . off to England ane of thae odd-come-shortlys.
1879. J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, vii. Note. Run fetch me de ax, en I'll wait on you one er deze odd-come-shorts.
Odd fish, subs. phr. (colloquial).—An
eccentric: see Queer Card.
1771. Franklin, Auto. [Works(1887) i. 137]. He was an odd fish.
1820. Lamb, Elia, 'South Sea House.' Humourists, for they were of all descriptions . . . Odd fishes.
1837. Dance, The Country Squire, i. 3. Hor. (Crossing behind, to George-going). He's a devilish odd fish.
Oddity, subs. (colloquial).—A singularity.
1813. Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 54. He must be an oddity, I think, said she. I cannot make him out.
1882. Howells, Modern Instance, iv. The mother (who remained in the room when her daughter had company) was an oddity almost unknown in Equity.
Odd man out, subs. phr. (common).—A
mode of tossing for
drinks by three or more. Each
spins a coin, and if two come
up 'head' and one 'tail,' the
'tail,' or 'odd-man' is out, i.e.
has not to pay. Should all
three coins be alike, they are
'skied' again.
1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, xxxvi. He imparted to her the mystery of going the odd man, or plain Newmarket for fruit, ginger-beer, baked potatoes, or even a modest quencher.
1861. Albert Smith, Medical Student, 23. He purposes at lunch-time every day that he and his companions should go the odd man for a pot.
Odds, subs. (colloquial).—The
probabilities for or against; the
chance of something occurring;
that which justifies the attributing
of superiority to one of two
or more persons or things:
specifically, in betting, the excess
of the amount of a bet made
by one party over that of another:
as 'the odds against the favourite
were 3 to 1.'
1591. Greene, Second Part Conny-catching, in Works, vol. x. p. 83. These fellows will refuse to lay if the ods may grow to their aduantage.
1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV, v. 5, 3. I will lay odds that ere this year expire We bear our civil swords and native fire As far as France.
1602-3. Shakspeare, Hamlet, v. 2. King. You know the wager? Ham. Very well, my lord; Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side.
1704. Cibber, Careless Husband, iv. Lady Betty. There's no standing against two of you. L. Toppington. No faith, that's odds at tennis.
1751. Fielding. Amelia, x. v. If the knowing ones were here, they would lay odds of our side.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 15. He has so contrived the bets on his own life, that, live or die, the odds are in his favour.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, vi. Rashleigh alone possessed more arithmetic than was necessary to calculate the odds on a fighting-cock.
What's the odds? phr. (colloquial).—'What does it matter': an intensive of recklessness and good-fellowship.
1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ii. What is the odds so long as the fire of soul is kindled at the taper of conviviality, and the wing of friendship never moults a feather?
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke's Children, xvii. If they do send me down, what's the odds? said the younger brother, who was not quite as sober as he might have been.
