odds and ends

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English

Etymology

From a dialectal corruption of ords and ends (points and endings" or "beginnings and ends). More at ord, end.

Pronunciation

Noun

odds and ends pl (plural only)

  1. (idiomatic) Miscellaneous things.
    The garage was filled with a random assortment of odds and ends.
    • 1895, Robert W. Chambers, chapter 2, in The King in Yellow, "The Mask":
      I scraped my palette, stuck my brushes in a bowl of black soap, and I strolled into the smoking-room. I really believe that, excepting Geneviève's apartments, no room in the house was so free from the perfume of tobacco as this one. It was a queer chaos of odds and ends hung with threadbare tapestry.

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