Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ode \Ode\, n. [F., fr. L. ode, oda, Gr. ? a song, especially a
   lyric song, contr. fr. ?, fr. ? to sing; cf.Skr. vad to
   speak, sing. Cf. {Comedy}, {Melody}, {Monody}.]
   A short poetical composition proper to be set to music or
   sung; a lyric poem; esp., now, a poem characterized by
   sustained noble sentiment and appropriate dignity of style.

         Hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies on brambles.
                                                  --Shak.

         O! run; prevent them with thy humble ode, And lay it
         lowly at his blessed feet.               --Milton.

   {Ode factor}, one who makes, or who traffics in, odes; --
      used contemptuously.