Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
lay odds en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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To offer a bet in which one stands more to lose than the opponent; or a bet in some other way favourable to the opponent.
"We're dead safe," he assured them with a laugh. "No salt mines this time, Smoke. But I'll tell you what -- I'll lay odds of five to one it's the Macedonia."
1904, Jack London, chapter 24, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:Prince John: "I will lay odds that, ere this year expire, / We bear our civil swords and native fire / As far as France. I heard a bird so sing, / Whose music, to my thinking, pleas'd the King."
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
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To feel certain about something.
Forms
Antonyms
take odds
Coordinates
wager
Synonyms
give odds