ODD (in

See also:

• MIDDLE

middle

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• ENGLISH

English

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• ODDE, or ODDA

odde, from old

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• NORWEGIAN

Norwegian oddi, an

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• ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle of a triangle; the old Norwegian oddamann is used of the third

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• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man who gives a casting

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• VOTE

vote in a dispute) , that which remains over after an equal division, the unit in excess of an even number; thus in numeration the word is used of a number either above or below a round number, an indefinite cardinal number, as " eighty and odd," or " eighty odd." As applied to individuals, the sense of " one left after a division " leads to that of " solitary," and thus of " uncommon " or " strange." In the plural, " odds " was originally used to denote inequalities especially in the phrase " to make odds even." The sense of a difference in benefit leads to such colloquialisms as " makes no odds," while that of variance appears in the expression " to be at odds." In betting " the odds " is the advantage given by one person to another in proportion to the supposed chances of success .