odds n.

in wagering, "equalizing allowance to a weaker side or player by a stronger, advantage conceded by one of the parties in proportion to the assumed chances in his favor," 1590s, found first in Shakespeare ("2 Henry IV," 1597), probably from the word's earlier sense of "condition of inequality, difference, amount by which one thing exceeds or falls short of another" (1540s), from odd (q.v.), though the exact sense evolution is uncertain. Odds was used for "unequal things, matters, or conditions" from c. 1500, and the later senses may have evolved generally from this earlier notion of "things that don't come out even."

Until 19c. treated as a singular, though obviously a plural (compare news). General sense of "chance or balance of probability in favor of something happening" is by 1580s. Sense of "disagreement, variance, strife" (1580s) is the notion in at odds "at controversy or quarrel, unable to agree." Odds-on "on which the odds are laid" is by 1890.

词汇	odds
词源	odds n. in wagering, "equalizing allowance to a weaker side or player by a stronger, advantage conceded by one of the parties in proportion to the assumed chances in his favor," 1590s, found first in Shakespeare ("2 Henry IV," 1597), probably from the word's earlier sense of "condition of inequality, difference, amount by which one thing exceeds or falls short of another" (1540s), from odd (q.v.), though the exact sense evolution is uncertain. Odds was used for "unequal things, matters, or conditions" from c. 1500, and the later senses may have evolved generally from this earlier notion of "things that don't come out even." Until 19c. treated as a singular, though obviously a plural (compare news). General sense of "chance or balance of probability in favor of something happening" is by 1580s. Sense of "disagreement, variance, strife" (1580s) is the notion in at odds "at controversy or quarrel, unable to agree." Odds-on "on which the odds are laid" is by 1890. Entries linking to odds odd adj. c. 1300, odde, "constituting a unit in excess of an even number," from Old Norse oddi "third or additional number," as in odda-maðr "third man, odd man (who gives the casting vote)," odda-tala "odd number." The literal meaning of Old Norse oddi is "point of land, angle" (related via notion of "triangle" to oddr "point of a weapon"); from Proto-Germanic uzdaz "pointed upward" (source also of Old English ord "point of a weapon, spear, source, beginning," Old Frisian ord "point, place," Dutch oord "place, region," Old High German ort "point, angle," German Ort "place"), from PIE uzdho- (source also of Lithuanian us-nis "thistle"). None of the other languages, however, shows the Old Norse development from "point" to "third number." Used from late 14c. to indicate a surplus over any given sum. Sense of "strange, peculiar" first attested 1580s from notion of "odd one out, unpaired one of three" (attested earlier, c. 1400, as "singular" in a positive sense of "renowned, rare, choice"). An odd job "casual, disconnected piece of work" (1728) is so called from notion of "not regular." Odd lot "incomplete or random set" is from 1897. The international order of Odd Fellows began as local social clubs in England, late 18c., with Masonic-type trappings; formally organized 1813 in Manchester, England. updated on August 14, 2019
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odds n.

Entries linking to odds