1.
[syn: odds and ends, oddments, melange, farrago, ragbag, mishmash, mingle-mangle, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, gallimaufry, omnium-gatherum]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Odds \Odds\ ([o^]dz), n. sing. & pl. [See Odd, a.]
1. Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of
one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality;
advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances;
probability. The odds are often expressed by a ratio; as,
the odds are three to one that he will win, i. e. he will
win three times out of four "Preeminent by so much odds."
--Milton. "The fearful odds of that unequal fray."
--Trench.
[1913 Webster]
The odds
Is that we scarce are men and you are gods. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
There appeared, at least, four to one odds against
them. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
All the odds between them has been the different
scope . . . given to their understandings to range
in. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
Judging is balancing an account and determining on
which side the odds lie. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Quarrel; dispute; debate; strife; -- chiefly in the phrase
at odds.
[1913 Webster]
Set them into confounding odds. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
I can not speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
At odds, in dispute; at variance. "These squires at odds
did fall." --Spenser. "He flashes into one gross crime or
other, that sets us all at odds." --Shak.
It is odds, it is probable; same as odds are, but no
longer used. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.
odds are it is probable; as, odds are he will win the gold
medal.
Odds and ends, that which is left; remnants; fragments;
refuse; scraps; miscellaneous articles. "My brain is
filled . . . with all kinds of odds and ends." --W.
Irving.
slim odds low odds; poor chances; as, there are slim odds
he will win any medal.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
odds and ends
n 1: a motley assortment of things [syn: odds and ends,
oddments, melange, farrago, ragbag, mishmash,
mingle-mangle, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, gallimaufry,
omnium-gatherum]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "odds and ends":
afterglow, afterimage, all sorts, assemblage, assortment, balance,
broad spectrum, butt, butt end, candle ends, chaff, collectanea,
conglomerate, conglomeration, cosmetics, debris, detritus, end,
fag end, filings, fossil, gallimaufry, giftware, hash, hodgepodge,
holdover, hotchpot, hotchpotch, husks, jumble, knickknacks,
leavings, leftovers, magpie, mash, medley, melange, melee, mess,
mingle-mangle, miscellanea, miscellany, mishmash, mix, mixed bag,
mixture, motley, notions, novelties, oddments, offscourings, olio,
olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, orts, parings, pasticcio, pastiche,
patchwork, potpourri, rags, refuse, relics, remainder, remains,
remnant, residue, residuum, rest, roach, rubbish, ruins, rump,
salad, salmagundi, sauce, sawdust, scourings, scramble, scraps,
shadow, shavings, stew, straw, stubble, stump, sundries, survival,
sweepings, toilet goods, toiletries, trace, variety, vestige,
waste, what you will