some

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English som, adjective & pronoun, from Old English sum; akin to Old High German sum some, Greek hamē somehow, homos same — more at same Date: before 12th century 1. being an unknown, undetermined, or unspecified unit or thing <

some person knocked

> 2. a. being one, a part, or an unspecified number of something (as a class or group) named or implied <

some gems are hard

> b. being of an unspecified amount or number <

give me some water

> <

have some apples

> 3. remarkable, striking <

that was some party

> 4. being at least one — used to indicate that a logical proposition is asserted only of a subclass or certain members of the class denoted by the term which it modifies II. pronoun, singular or plural in construction Date: before 12th century 1. one indeterminate quantity, portion, or number as distinguished from the rest 2. an indefinite additional amount <

ran a mile and then some

> III. adverb Date: before 12th century 1. about <

some 80 houses

> <

twenty-some people

> 2. a. in some degree ; somewhat <

felt some better

> b. to some degree or extent ; a little <

the cut bled some

> <

I need to work on it some more

> c. — used as a mild intensive <

that's going some

> Usage: When some is used to modify a number, it is almost always a round number <

a community of some 150,000 inhabitants

> but because some is slightly more emphatic than about or approximately it is occasionally used with a more exact number in an intensive function <

an expert parachutist, he has some 115 jumps to his credit — Current Biography

>. When some is used without a number, most commentators feel that somewhat is to be preferred. Their advice is an oversimplification, however; only when some modifies an adjective, usually a comparative, will somewhat always substitute smoothly. When some modifies a verb or adverb, and especially when it follows a verb, substitution of somewhat may prove awkward <

Italy forced me to grow up some — E. W. Brooke

> <

I'm not a prude; I've been around some in my day — Roy Rogers

> <

here in Newport, both Southern Cross and Courageous practiced some more — W. N. Wallace

>.