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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

ODD, adj., adv., n.¹ Sc. usages:

I. adj. 1. In phrs.: (1) odd-and-end, used attrib. = miscellaneous; (2) odd laddie, a youth who acts as a spare hand or odd-job man on a farm. Also in Nhb. dial.; (3) odd man, id. (Kcb. 1964); see quot.; (4) to think oddnt [odd on it], to think it odd.(1) Sc. 1867 N. Macleod Reminisc. 31:
A little world of its own, to which wandering pipers, parish fools, and beggars, with all sorts of odd-and-end characters came.(2) m.Sc. 1947 Scots Mag. (April) 12:
He's bid here a' his life, an' if ye let him, he'll stert off for an odd laddie when he leaves the schule an' never get off a ferm.(3) Arg. 1776 T. Pennant Tour 1772 I. 264:
A second game of activity is played by two or three hundred, who form a circle; and every one places his stick in the ground before him, by way of barriere. A person called the odd man, stands in the middle, and delivers his bonnet to any one in the ring. This is nimbly handed round, and the owner is to recover it; and on succeeding, takes the place of the person, whom he took it from; and that person again takes the middle place.(4) Sc. 1743 Origins '45 (S.H.S.) 58:
We cannot help thinking oddnt, when the money was had to pay Sir J(ames) Mr Watson did not care to remit it.

2. Deriv. oddings, odds and ends.Kcb. 1815 J. Gerrond Poems 85:
Each lad and lass their oddings by, Ready to start that morn.

II. adv. In an odd or unusual manner, different from the usual run of things, unlike others, in a unique or singular state (Ags. 1964).Rnf. 1862 A. McGilvray Poems 157:
You could not think on sitting odd, 'Mong decent men.Per. 1898 C. Spence Poems 195:
Wha e'er of silken gouns shall bode Will get a sleeve, or things gae odd.

III. n. 1. Golf: see quot. and cf. Odds, n., 3.Sc. 1881 Golfer's Handbook 35:
(1) “An odd”, “two odds”, etc. per hole, means the handicap given to a weak opponent by deducting one, two, etc. strokes from his total every hole. (2) To have played “the odd” is to have played one stroke more than your adversary.”Sc. 1891 J. Kerr Golf-Bk. E. Lth. (1896) App. xxii.:
The reckoning of the strokes is kept by the terms “the odd,” “two more,” “three more,” etc.Sc. 1955 R. Browning Hist. Golf 178:
In so doing, he would play the odd.

2. In phr.: to go to the odd, to go to waste.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 165:
He'll let nothing go to the odd for want of looking after it. Spoken of careful, scraping people.