american-englishbritish-englishexpressionsphrases
There's already a question (and answer) for "bits and bobs", which I believe is a Britishism, but what is the origin of "odds and ends"? "Odds" I have some reckoning for (as in, "odd items", meaning leftover). Why is this specie of miscellanea paired with "ends"?
Additionally, is "odds and ends" an Americanism?
A word can be considered a real word even if it's not in an established dictionary. Many words that have yet to appear in dictionaries are widely understood, and could be added over time - if their usage continues. Others fall away over time, but during their peak, they would have been just as real as standard dictionary words.
Merriam-Webster's Help Section has a question on this: If a word is not in the dictionary, does that mean it isn't a real word? which indicates
One of the most prolific areas of change and variation in English is vocabulary; new words are constantly being coined to name or describe new inventions or innovations, or to better identify aspects of our rapidly changing world. Constraints of time, money, and staff would make it impossible for any dictionary, no matter how large, to capture a fully comprehensive account of all the words in the language. And even if such a leviathan reference was somehow fashioned, the dictionary would be obsolete the instant it was published as speakers and writers continued generating new terms to meet their constantly changing needs.
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Most general English dictionaries are designed to include only those words that meet certain criteria of usage across wide areas and over extended periods of time. As a result, they may omit words that are still in the process of becoming established, those that are too highly specialized, or those that are so informal that they are rarely documented in professionally edited writing. The words left out are as real as those that gain entry; the former simply haven't met the criteria for dictionary entry – at least not yet (newer ones may ultimately gain admission to the dictionary's pages if they gain sufficient use).
The relevant OED entry (with citations), at: "speak, v. ... Etymology: Old English sprecan (past tense spræc, sprǽcon, past participle gesprecen..."
OED entry should be antedated. @Xanne pointed to the King James Bible, "when she shall be spoken for?" which reads thus in the 1611 text: "We haue a litle sister, and shee hath no breasts: what shall we doe for our sister, in the day when she shall bee spoken for?"
Even earlier, it's found in the Wycliffe Bible (1382 to 1395): Our sister is little, and hath no teats; what shall we do to our sister, in the day when she shall be spoken to? [Early Version] Our sister is little, or young, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister, on the day when she shall be spoken for? [Late Version]
Best Answer
This phrase is older than you might imagine, having its roots in Anglo-Saxon. It is a corruption of ord and ende as indicated here in Folk-etymology: a dictionary of verbal corruptions or words perverted in form or meaning, by false derivation or mistaken, by Abram Smythe Palmer:
The original expression meant "points and ends" which "signifies beginning and end."