n. [ G., fr. Gr. &unr_; passage. ] (Physics) An alleged force or natural power, supposed, by
That od force of German Reichenbach
Which still, from female finger tips, burnt blue. Mrs. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ Cf. Icel. ē&unr_;al, Dan. odel allodial, Sw. odal. ] (Law) Among the early and medieval Teutonic peoples, esp. Scandinavians, the heritable land held by the various odalmen constituting a family or kindred of freeborn tribesmen; also, the ownership of such land. The odal was subject only to certain rights of the family or kindred in restricting the freedom of transfer or sale and giving certain rights of redemption in case of change of ownership by inheritance, etc., and perhaps to other rights of the kindred or the tribe. Survivals of the early odal estates and tenure exist in Orkney and Shetland, where it is usually called by the variant form
a. (Law) Noting, or pert. to, odal land or ownership. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]
‖n. [ F., fr. Turk. odaliq chambermaid, fr. oda chamber, room. ] A female slave or concubine in the harem of the Turkish sultan.
Not of those that men desire, sleek
Odalisques, or oracles of mode. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]
a.
I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
Sixteen hundred and odd years after the earth was made, it was destroyed in a deluge. T. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]
There are yet missing of your company
Some few odd lads that you remember not. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
The odd man, to perform all things perfectly, is, in my poor opinion, Joannes Sturmius. Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]
Patients have sometimes coveted odd things. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]
Locke's Essay would be a very odd book for a man to make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical writings. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]
n.
Pluto is an oddball among its eight sister planets. It's the smallest in both size and mass, and has the most elliptical orbit. It moves in a plane tilted markedly away from the other planets' orbits. Moreover, Pluto is the only planet made almost entirely of ice. Ron Cohen (Science News, Feb. 27, 1999, p. 139)
a. Eccentric; very unusual; strange; bizarre;
A member of a secret order, or fraternity, styled the
n.;
That infinitude of oddities in him. Sterne. [ 1913 Webster ]