odd man

From odd + man, probably after a Scandinavian source. Compare Old Norse odda-maðr.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒd man/

odd man (plural odd men)

1. In a group having an odd number of people, someone with the casting vote; an arbiter. [from 15th c.]
2. Someone who does odd jobs. [from 18th c.]
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 86:

     Their complexion was lustreless and clammy, although Aunt Evelyn's odd man had given them all the energy of his elbow.

3. (rowing) A man who trains in company with a boat's crew, so that he can take the place of anybody who falls ill.

• odd man out

• dodman