Oodles means a very large amount of something, so much that you could never count it all precisely. When your grandmother says she has oodles of love for you, she means an enormous, overflowing amount. If someone has oodles of energy, they're bouncing around with more energy than they know what to do with.

The word is playful and informal. You wouldn't write in a science report that an experiment produced oodles of data, but you might tell a friend that you have oodles of homework or that the school cafeteria made oodles of spaghetti. The word suggests abundance that's hard to measure exactly, like when you're facing oodles of leaves to rake or you discover a recipe that needs oodles of chocolate chips.

Oodles often pairs with “of” (oodles of time, oodles of fun), and it carries a cheerful tone, even when describing something challenging. Having oodles of chores might not sound fun, but the word itself makes the situation feel a little less serious than saying you have “an enormous amount” of chores.