# odds and ends

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/odds-and-ends
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Miscellaneous things; oddments

## Examples

- I keep my odds and ends in a kitchen drawer.
- You can find some useful odds and ends at the local flea market.
- He puts all his small odds and ends into a plastic box.
- Before moving, she spent the weekend sorting through odds and ends she had collected over the years.
- The mechanic spent the afternoon looking for a few odds and ends to finish repairing the old truck.
- We still have some odds and ends to finish before the new office is ready for the team.
- The tailor used various odds and ends of colorful fabric to create a unique pattern on the back of the jacket.
- The attic was filled with nothing but forgotten odds and ends — faded postcards, broken clocks, and keys to doors that no longer existed.

## Origin

From a dialectal corruption of the earlier phrase *ords and ends*, meaning points and endings or beginnings and ends. The term preserves the obsolete *ord*, from Old English *ord*, denoting a point, beginning, or the foremost part of a weapon. The current form emerged as the initial vowel shifted, leaving the original sense of start and finish to signify various remnants.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.