ODD 
S9G 
With fuch odd maxims to thy flocks retreat, 
Nor furnilh mirth for rniniders of ftate. Young. 
Uncommon ; particular.—The odd man to perform all 
three perfectly is, Joannes Sturmius. Afckam's School - 
mafler. —Unlucky: 
The trull Othello puts him in, 
On lome odd time of his infirmity 
Will fhake this ifland. Shahefpeare's Othello. 
Unlikely ; in appearance improper.—Mr. Locke’s Efl’ay 
would be a very odd book for a man to make himfelf maf- 
ter of, who would get a reputation by critical writings. 
A ddifun's Spectator. 
ODDABACH'I, or Oldabassi, f. An officer in the 
Turkilh foldiery, equivalent to a ferjeant or corporal 
among us. The common foldiers, and janizaries, called 
oldachis, after having lerved a certain term of years, are 
always preferred, and made hiquelairs ; and of biquelairs, 
in time, become oddabachis, i. e. corporals of companies, 
or chiefs of certain divilions, whole number is not fixed ; 
being fometimes ten, and fometimes twenty. Their pay 
is fix doubles per month ; and they are diftinguilhed by a 
large felt, a foot broad, and above a foot long, hanging 
on the back, with two long ollrich-feathers. 
ODDE'NA. See Mina, vol. xv. 
ODDE'NA, a town of Arabia, formerly a fplendid city, 
now in ruins, near Taas. 
OD'DER, a town of Arabia, in the province of Yemen : 
twelve miles fouth of Wadeij. 
OD'DINGLY, a village fix miles north-eafl of Wor- 
celler. The manor formerly belonged to the duke of 
Northumberland, but now to the Foleys. The parifh is 
now inclofed, and has no right of commoning on that 
called Oddingley-heath, an extenfive wafte belonging to 
feveral pariflies and perlons. The church is dedicated to 
St. James ; it is built in form of a crofs, and has fome re¬ 
mains of painted glafs. 
OD'DITY, f. Singularity ; particularity ; applied both 
to perfons and things.— I fliould not ridicule a fquinting 
eye, a Hammering voice, a provincial dialed, the pecu¬ 
liarities of a profefiion, or indeed any oddity, or deformity, 
that was not ltriCtly immoral. Amufements of Clergymen. 
ODD'LY, adv. Not evenly.—Strangely ; particularly ; 
irregularly; unaccountably; uncouthly; contrarily to 
cuftom.—The dreams of fleeping men are made up of the 
waking man’s ideas, though for the moll part oddly put to¬ 
gether. Loche. 
As mailers in the clare obfeure, 
With various light your eye allure : 
A flaming yellow here they fpread ; 
D raw off in blue, or charge in red : 
Yet from thefe colours oddly mix’d, 
Your fight upon the whole is fix’d. Prior. 
ODD'NESS, f. The Hate of being not even.—Take but 
one from three, and you not only deltroy the oddnefs, but 
alfo the effence, of that number. Fothcrby's Atheom. — 
Strangenefs; particularity; uncouthnefs; irregularity.— 
Coveting to recommend himfelf to pofterity, Cicero beg¬ 
ged it as an alms of the hiltorians, to remember his con- 
I'ullhip; and obferve the oddnefs of the event; all their 
liillories are loll, and the vanity of his requell (lands re¬ 
corded in his own writings. Dryden.—A knave is appre- 
henfive of being difeovered ; and this habitual concern 
puts an oddnefs into his looks. Collier. 
ODDS,_/i inequality; excels of either, compared with 
the other.—Between thefe two cafes there are great odds. 
Hooker. —Judging is balancing an account, and determin¬ 
ing on which fide the odds lie. Locke. 
I’ll lay the odds that, ere this year expire. 
We bear our civil fwords and native fire 
As far as France. Shahefpeare's Hen. IV. 
More than an even wager; more likely than the contrary. 
•—The prelbyterian party endeavoured one day to intro- 
O D E 
duce a debate about repealing the tell-claufe, when there 
appeared at lead four to one odds againlt them. Swift .—• 
Advantage ; fuperiority : 
And though the fword, fome underllood, 
In force had much the odds of wood, 
’Twas nothing fo ; both lides were balanc’d 
So equal, none knew which was valiant’ll. Hudibrat. 
Quarrel; debate; difpute : 
What is the night ? 
Altnoftat odds with the morning, which is which. Shakefp. 
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee, 
Were Hill at odds, being but three ; 
Until the goofe came out of door, 
And (laid the odds by making four. Shakefp. L. Lab. Lojl. 
O DE, f. [Fr. Gr. from to ling.] A poem 
written to be lung to inufic ; a lyric poem.—A man haunts 
the forells, that abufe-s our young plants with carving 
Rofnlind on their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns,, 
and elegies on brambles, all forfooth deifying the name 
of Rofalind. S/takefpeare's As you like it. 
What work among you fcholar-gods ! 
Phcebus mud write him am’rous odes; 
And thou, poor coufin, mud compofe 
His letters infubmiflive prole. Prior. 
The peculiar and didinguilhing character of the ode is, 
that it is intended to be fung, or accompanied with mulic; 
and, though this diltin&ion was not peculiar to any one 
fpecies of poetry, becaufe mulic and poetry were coeval, 
and originally always joined together; yet, after their 
leparation, and when bards produced compofitions in 
verle that were to be recited or read, not to be fung, fuch 
poems as were deligned to be dill joined with mufic or 
long, are, by way of diftinCtion, called odes. It is from 
this circtimdance of the ode’s being fuppofed to retain 
its original union with mufic, that we are to deduce the 
peculiar and dilcriminating qualities of this kind of 
poetry. Mufic and long naturally add to the warmth of 
poetry; and they judify a bolderand more paffionate drain 
than can be fupported in Ample recitation. From this is 
formed the peculiar character of the ode. Hence, lays 
Dr. Blair, proceed “the enthufiafm that belongs to it, 
and the liberties it is allowed to take beyond any other 
fpecies of poetry. Hence, that neglefl of regularity, thole 
digreflions, and that diforder, which it is fuppofed to ad¬ 
mit; and which, indeed, moll lyric poets have not failed 
fufficiently to exemplify in their practice.” 
The ode, fays the learned bilhop Lovvth, although infe¬ 
rior in fome refpe&s to the epic, or what are called the 
higher fpecies of poetry, yields to none in force, ardour, 
and fometimes even in dignity and fimplicity. Whilll 
“ the epic accomplilhes its defign with more leil'ure, with 
more conlideration and care, and therefore probably with 
greater certainty, the ode, on the contrary, drikes with 
an indantaneous eft'eCt, amazes, and, as it were, dorms the 
affections. The one may be compared to a flame, which, 
fanned by the winds, gradually fpreads itfelf on all fides, 
and at lad involves every object in the conflagration ; the 
other to a flalh of lightning, which inftantaneoully burft.s 
forth, 
With inflant ruin threats great Nature’s frame, 
And Ihoots through every part the vivid flame. 
“ The form of the ode is by no means confined to any 
certain rule for the exaCt and accurate dillribution of the 
parts. It is lively and unconllrained: when the fubjeCt is 
1'ublime, it is impetuous, bold,and fometimes might almoft 
deferve the epithet licentious, as to fymmetry and me¬ 
thod ; but even in this cafe, and uniformly in every other, 
a certain facility and eafe mud pervade the whole, which 
may aflord at lead the appearance of unaffected elegance, 
and feem to prefer nature to art. This appearance is beft 
preferved by an exordium, plain, Ample, and e*preflive ; 
