odds and ends

Definition

Miscellaneous things; oddments

Etymology

From a dialectal corruption of ords and ends (“points and endings" or "beginnings and ends”). More at ord, end.

Example Sentences

• "The garage was filled with a random assortment of odds and ends."
• "I scraped my palette, stuck my brushes in a bowl of black soap, and I strolled into the smoking-room. I really believe that, excepting Geneviève's apartments, no room in the house was so free from the perfume of tobacco as this one. It was a queer chaos of odds and ends hung with threadbare tapestry."