odd-job

plural odd-jobs

1. alternativeAlternative form of odd job.

   1902 – Left for Switzerland where he lived in poverty, doing only odd-jobs

   2006, Mark Robson, Access to History: Italy: The Rise of Fascism 1915-1945, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   After a couple of years he'd come back to Colorado and chilled out at the Scotts' place. He'd planned to stay a few weeks, maybe doing odd-jobs to earn his keep.

   2011, Jenny Oldfield, Horses of Half Moon Ranch: Silver Spur, →ISBN

   Rosenblatt had spent eighteen months infiltrating the gang's infrastructure; starting at the lowest level, working odd-jobs for the street pushers Sol had worked his way up the organisation and had now secured a job working in the main drug factory on the south end of Hester Street, a building known as The Ballroom.

   2013, Jack Goldstein, Jimmy Russell, 10 Amazing Slenderman Stories, →ISBN

2. attributiveAttributive form of odd job.

   We had the logs delivered and an odd-job man carted them upstairs, but in the absence of a footman I had to make sure all the fires were lit and kept going in winter.

   2012, Tom Quinn, They Also Serve: The real life story of my time in service as a butler, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   On Jaffer's second day of joining this group of odd-job seekers, a man who came in his car and hired a fat man from the queue with a ladder and a bucket in his hand, to whitewash his house, also took Jaffer as an extra hand, at almost half the rate which the man was to be paid.

   2014, Javaid Syed, Those Houses on the Ridge: Lone Suicide, →ISBN

   This makes it easier to understand why odd-job workers become the target every time the government “cleans up the city,” although they toil for the least pay and are subject to all kinds of injustices.

   2016, Gregory Eliyu Guldin, Farewell to Peasant China, →ISBN

present singular third person odd-jobs · participle present odd-jobbing · participle past odd-jobbed · past odd-jobbed

1. intransitiveTo work by taking a variety of temporary jobs.

   Both boys and girls were expected to 'odd-job' to bring in extra funds.

   2002, Lionel Rose, The Erosion of Childhood: Childhood in Britain 1860-1918, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Some of the actors were locals, others outsiders who odd-jobbed it while they performed.

   2016, Harry Turtledove, Typecasting, →ISBN

   We were inseparable. Came down to London together, lived in a squat together, odd-jobbed together to pay our way while I was at art college and she studied to be an actuary.

   2016, Sarah Lotz, Skin Deep, →ISBN

2. raretransitiveTo perform odd or temporary jobs for someone.