Dictionary

odd job en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A spell of temporary employment.
   • On the other hand, if the decedent wanted to be a veterinarian but had never worked full time, worked odd jobs, had an English degree, and had worked as a receptionist at the veterinarian's office, it might be different. 2005, Frank J. Landy, Employment Discrimination Litigation, →ISBN:
   • Most of the usual things that average people sought seem to come his way anyway, for example, money when he needed it, where he'd take an odd job until he earned enough to get by for a while and then he'd hit the road again. 2010, S. D Murdoch, Into the Field, →ISBN:
   • They believe that when a partnership works as well as theirs has, you shouldn't analyze it too much. Success came in the midforties when Paramount hired them for the musical equivalent of odd jobs. 2003, Sam Staggs, Close-up on Sunset Boulevard, →ISBN:
2. A task of an incidental, unspecialized nature.
   • It was the day before they were due to arrive in Kansas City that Billy earned a hand-out from a restaurant keeper in a small town by doing some odd jobs for the man. 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:
   • For the next two weeks I bided my time, sleeping at night on an army-issue metal cot in a small, bare room separate from the other men; working during the day at whatever odd job the duty officer saw fit to hand out. 2009, Malcolm Stevens, Evan's War, →ISBN, page 205:
   • I like doing odd jobs around the house.
   • He moved all over the States, without a cent, picking up any odd job he could get. 1910, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 1, in The Intrusion of Jimmy:

Forms

Deriveds

odd-job man · odd-jobber

Relateds

gig

Translations (20)

fi silpputyö (temporary job) · fi hanttityö (task of incidental nature) · nn småjobb (task of incidental nature) · es changa (temporary job) · it lavoro occasionale (temporary job) · nb småjobb (task of incidental nature) · de Zeitarbeit (temporary job) · fi aputyö (task of incidental nature) · es pituto (temporary job) · de Gelegenheitsarbeit (task of incidental nature) · pt serviço (task of incidental nature) · fi hanttihomma (task of incidental nature) · pt biscate (task of incidental nature) · pt bico (temporary job) · ru случа́йная рабо́та (task of incidental nature) · ru вре́менная рабо́та (temporary job) · es chapuza (temporary job) · fr petit boulot (temporary job) · fi pätkätyö (temporary job) · cmn 臨時工 /临时工 (temporary job)

odd job en · VERB

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of odd-job.
   alt of odd-job
   • The Kettles recommended Peter Moses, a little, old, apple-cheeked man who "odd jobbed" and claimed to be the most patriotic man in the "Yewnited States of America. 1988, Zita Dresner, Redressing the balance, →ISBN, page 295:
   • They all odd jobbed in and around London, some were looking after children in Norway and other places or jobbed in restaurants, shops. 2017, Evelyn Guevara Lohmann, Spies-C.I.A-Lies-Terrorist-Che Guevara, →ISBN:
   • Now, as I adjust to my first-ever nine-to-five office job (an experience not unlike culture shock, after years of “odd jobbing” to pay the rent), I find myself still answering calls to cater a wedding, henna tattoo adolescent girls at a bat mitzvah, or be a beer promo girl for a night. 2012, Abigail R. Gehring, Odd Jobs: How to Have Fun and Make Money in a Bad Economy, →ISBN:
   • "I hope, sir," pleaded the abashed Mr. Cruncher, "that a gentleman like yourself wot I've had the honour of odd jobbing till I'm grey at it, would think twice about harming of me, even if it wos so—I don't say it is, but even if it wos." 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:

Forms