Odds

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Odds \Odds\ ([o^]dz), n. sing. & pl. [See {Odd}, a.]
     1. Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of
        one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality;
        advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances;
        probability. The odds are often expressed by a ratio; as,
        the odds are three to one that he will win, i. e. he will


        win three times out of four "Preeminent by so much odds."
        --Milton. "The fearful odds of that unequal fray."
        --Trench.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The odds
              Is that we scarce are men and you are gods. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There appeared, at least, four to one odds against
              them.                                 --Swift.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All the odds between them has been the different
              scope . . . given to their understandings to range
              in.                                   --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Judging is balancing an account and determining on
              which side the odds lie.              --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Quarrel; dispute; debate; strife; -- chiefly in the phrase
        at odds.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Set them into confounding odds.       --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I can not speak
              Any beginning to this peevish odds.   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {At odds}, in dispute; at variance. "These squires at odds
        did fall." --Spenser. "He flashes into one gross crime or
        other, that sets us all at odds." --Shak.
  
     {It is odds}, it is probable; same as {odds are}, but no
        longer used. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.
  
     {odds are} it is probable; as, odds are he will win the gold
        medal.
  
     {Odds and ends}, that which is left; remnants; fragments;
        refuse; scraps; miscellaneous articles. "My brain is
        filled . . . with all kinds of odds and ends." --W.
        Irving.
  
     {slim odds} low odds; poor chances; as, there are slim odds
        he will win any medal.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  odds
       n 1: the probability of a specified outcome [syn: {likelihood}, {likeliness}]
            [ant: {unlikelihood}, {unlikelihood}]
       2: the ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that
          of another; "he offered odds of two to one" [syn: {betting
          odds}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  154 Moby Thesaurus words for "odds":
     advantage, agreement to disagree, allowance, aptitude, asymmetry,
     at daggers drawn, at loggerheads, at odds, at variance, bulge,
     chance, chances, clashing, coign of vantage, conflicting,
     contrariety, contrast, cross-purposes, deadwood, debris, departure,
     deviation, difference, difference of opinion, differing,
     difficulty, disaccord, disaccordance, disagreeing, disagreement,
     disconformity, discongruity, discordance, discrepancy,
     discreteness, disequilibrium, disparity, disproportion, dissent,
     dissimilarity, dissonance, distinction, distinctness, divergence,
     divergency, diversity, dividedness, division, draw, drop, edge,
     equivalent odds, even break, even chance, expectation,
     fair expectation, fair shake, far cry, favorable prospect,
     fifty-fifty, flying start, fragments, good chance, half a chance,
     handicap, head start, heterogeneity, hundred-to-one shot,
     imbalance, in disagreement, in opposition, inaccordance,
     inadequacy, incompatibility, incongruity, inconsistency,
     inconsonance, inequality, inequity, inharmonious, inharmoniousness,
     inharmony, injustice, inside track, insufficiency,
     irreconcilability, irregularity, jump, lead, leavings, leftovers,
     liability, likelihood, likeliness, litter, long odds, long shot,
     misunderstanding, mixture, no chance, nonconformity, nonuniformity,
     oddments, odds and ends, opposition, otherness, out of line,
     outlook, overbalance, particles, polarization, presumption,
     presumptive evidence, price, probabilism, probability, prospect,
     reasonable ground, reasonable hope, rubbish, running start, scraps,
     separateness, short odds, shortcoming, shreds, small chance,
     something extra, something in reserve, square odds, standoff,
     start, superiority, tendency, toss, toss-up, touch and go,
     unbalance, unconformity, unevenness, unfair discrimination,
     unlikeness, unorthodoxy, upper hand, vantage, vantage ground,
     vantage point, variance, variation, variegation, variety,
     verisimilitude, well-grounded hope, whip hand