oddment

Noun

oddment (plural oddments)

1. A part of something that is left over, such as a piece of cloth.
   • an oddment of ribbon / of wood
   • ‘Ps! ps!’ she purred, feeling amorously for her scissors beneath the sumptuous oddments of old church velvet and brocade that she loved to ruffle and ruck.1926, Ronald Firbank, Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, Chapter 6, in The Complete Ronald Firbank, Norfolk, CT: J. Laughlin, p. 667

   Synonyms:

   fragment, offcut, remainder, remnant, scrap

2. Something that does not match the things it is with or cannot easily be categorized; a miscellaneous item.
   • The Lahore Museum was larger, but here were more wonders—ghost-daggers and prayer-wheels from Tibet; […] gilt figures of Buddha, and little portable lacquer altars; Russian samovars with turquoises on the lid; […] arms of all sorts and kinds, and a thousand other oddments were cased, or piled, or...1900 December – 1901 October, Rudyard Kipling, chapter IX, in Kim, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1901, →OCLC, page 216
   • […] there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful.1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 5, in The Hobbit, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, published 1997, page 75

   Synonyms:

   bits and bobs, bits and pieces, bric-a-brac, odds and ends, odds and sods, whatnot

3. An item that was originally part of a set but is sold individually; an excess item of stock.
   • […] she pushed me inside a shop that sold oddments and seconds.1985, Jeanette Winterson, “Numbers”, in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, page 79
   • Whoever had purchased this supply of arms had scoured all the darker bazaars of the international weapons market, buying a lot here, another lot there, an oddment in a third place.1988, Campbell Armstrong, chapter 11, in Mazurka,, New York: Harper & Row, published 1990, page 251

   Synonyms:

   remainder

4. A part of a book that is not a portion of the text, such as the title, index, etc. (usually plural).
5. A person who does not fit in with others or is considered to be strange in some way.
   • Oh, I know for a fact that she’s loaned a fiver from the little oddment who has the floor under mine—1904, Arthur Wing Pinero, Letty, London: Heinemann, act I, page 30
   • “Come on, you daft oddment,” […]1979, Alan Garner, Tom Fobble’s Day,, New York: Collins, page 66

   Synonyms:

   misfit, oddball, weirdo

6. A varied collection (of items).
   • […] there are two or three tables, where are newspapers, and some of the latest periodicals and reviews, and a miscellaneous oddment of the current sacred and profane literature, stacked for convenience of reference […]1862, Edward Bradley (as Cuthbert Bede), “The Agreeable Monk” in The Curate of Cranston; with Other Prose and Verse, London: Saunders, Otley, p. 281
   • […] bearing a tray containing an oddment of cookies, cake, and sandwiches […]1948, Albert E. Idell, The Great Blizzard, New York: Henry Holt, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 112

   Synonyms:

   assortment

7. A remaining number or amount (after a calculation).
   • I’m your age treble [i.e. three times your age], with some oddments to’t,1821, John Clare, “The Cross Roads”, in The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, volume 2, London: Taylor and Hessey, page 85
   • When they went to market, a basket of eggs was one of their most frequent charges, and in making their purchases at various shops the tradesman would often be asked “to take eggs for money” to a certain extent; especially when the sum to pay left an “oddment,” such as 4d. or 8d.1877, Robert Roberts (ed.), The Apophthegmes of Erasmus Translated into English by Nicolas Udall, Boston, Lincolnshire: Robert Roberts, Appendix, p. 459

   Synonyms:

   remainder

8. Something strange or unusual.
   • How did he come to join the cavalry?
     That was an oddment.1955, MacKinlay Kantor, chapter 24, in Andersonville, Cleveland: World Publishing Co., page 266
   • […] TV fosters many preferences that are quite at variance with literate uniformity and repeatability. It has sent Americans questing for every sort of oddment and quaintness in objects from out of their storied past. Many Americans will now spare no pains or expense to get to taste some new wine...1964, Marshall McLuhan, chapter 31, in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, New York: New American Library, page 281

   Synonyms:

   oddity