odd-job man
1
3.9
- noun
- /ˈɑdˌdʒɑb mæn/
- UK
:
manitas
- Last week, the odd-job man painted my fence and repaired the broken gate.
Examples
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And then I remembered the odd-job man.
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Sir, I think I've tracked down our odd-job man.
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We understand you employ an odd-job man, wheels his stuff around in a handcart.
-
The odd-job man.
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The odd-job man came to fix the leaky faucet in my kitchen.
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When I needed help with some repairs, I called the odd-job man in my neighborhood.
Synonyms
50
2.7
A person who fixes and looks after things around a home or workplace
33
2.7
A person who fixes broken machines and equipment
11
2.5
A person who fixes and looks after buildings and equipment
6
3.6
A skilled worker who repairs things in houses and apartments
1
3.2
A person who repairs machines or home appliances
1
4.3
A person who can do many different jobs but is not an expert
1
5.2
A person who does many different jobs and fills in when needed
A woman who does small tasks like repairs or gardening
Antonyms
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
odd-job + man
The sense is compositionally built from 'odd job' (small, occasional or miscellaneous tasks) + 'man' to mean a man who does such tasks; even if 'odd-job' is hyphenated or not listed, a learner who knows 'odd' and 'job' will infer this. This noun-compound pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically similar (e.g., handyman/odd-jobber), so a B1 learner knowing the constituents would readily understand the meaning.
Etymology
Odd-job man comes from the simple picture of a man who does many small, different jobs. Imagine someone who comes to paint a fence, fix a gate or mend a leak, so the idea of odd meaning 'various' and job plus man explains why it means 'a man who does small repairs and jobs'.