odds and ends

noun

1. miscellaneous items, matters, etc.
2. fragments; remnants; scraps; bits.

odds and ends

plural noun

1. miscellaneous items or articles

Word History and Origins

Origin of odds and ends¹

First recorded in 1740–50

Idioms and Phrases

Miscellaneous items, fragments and remnants, as in I've finished putting everything away, except for a few odds and ends . This expression may have originated as odd ends in the mid-1500s, meaning “short leftovers of some material” (such as lumber or cloth). It had acquired its present form and meaning by the mid-1700s.

Example Sentences

So when they got home her godmother went to her odds-and-ends drawer.

From Project Gutenberg

We're to start—report says—at the end of the week, and I must be sent up to collect a few service odds-and-ends.

From Project Gutenberg

Very frequently the odds-and-ends corner of the garden is the most attractive feature in it.

From Project Gutenberg

A grated floor formed a small chamber immediately under the roof, where baskets and odds-and-ends are stowed away.

From Project Gutenberg

Poor little gentlefolk, the odds-and-ends of existence, the pence and threepenny bits of human life!

From Project Gutenberg