Word: oddment Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree English odd Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom Proto-Italic *-mentom Latin -mentum Old French -mentbor. Middle English -ment English -ment English oddment From odd + -ment. 1. A part of something that is left over, such as a piece of cloth. Example: an oddment of ribbon / of wood Example: 1926, Ronald Firbank, Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli, Chapter 6, in The Complete Ronald Firbank, Norfolk, CT: J. Laughlin, p. 667, ‘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. 2. Something that does not match the things it is with or cannot easily be categorized; a miscellaneous item. Example: 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 merely thrown into the room, […] Example: […] there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful. 3. An item that was originally part of a set but is sold individually; an excess item of stock. Example: […] she pushed me inside a shop that sold oddments and seconds. Example: 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. 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. Example: Oh, I know for a fact that she’s loaned a fiver from the little oddment who has the floor under mine— Example: “Come on, you daft oddment,” […] 6. A varied collection (of items). Example: 1862, Edward Bradley (as Cuthbert Bede), “The Agreeable Monk” in The Curate of Cranston; with Other Prose and Verse, London: Saunders, Otley, p. 281, […] 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 […] Example: […] bearing a tray containing an oddment of cookies, cake, and sandwiches […] 7. A remaining number or amount (after a calculation). Example: I’m your age treble [i.e. three times your age], with some oddments to’t, Example: 1877, Robert Roberts (ed.), The Apophthegmes of Erasmus Translated into English by Nicolas Udall, Boston, Lincolnshire: Robert Roberts, Appendix, p. 459, 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. 8. Something strange or unusual. Example: How did he come to join the cavalry? That was an oddment. Example: […] 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 or food.