See Also:

some(4) (iou)



some pronoun, adjective (in mod. usage also classed as a determiner), & adverb.
[Old English sum = Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German sum, Old Norse sumr, Gothic sums, from Germanic from Indo-European, from base also repr. by Greek hamos somehow, hamothen from some place, Sanskrit sama any, every.]
A. pronoun.
Treated as sing.
a. One or other of a number of people or things; someone, somebody, one. Also foll. by of. OE-M19.
J. H. Newman We shall have you a papist some of these fine days.
b. A certain indeterminate part of something; a portion. Also foll. by of. OE.
E. J. Howard Give me some. You'll be drunk if you drink all that. E. Baker Becoming familiar with some of his work.
Treated as pl. An indefinite or unspecified (but not large) number of people or things; certain people or things not named or enumerated. Also foll. by of. OE.
T. Hardy Some believe in it; some don't. Scott Fitzgerald They were..in uniform, some sober, some..drunk. R. P. Jhabvala If it rained..heavily, some of the older houses would collapse. C. P. Snow He was..less of a fool than some.
b. adjective.
I. With sing. nouns.
A certain, a particular. Now only with certain or one. OE.
J. Ruskin She should..follow at least some one path of scientific attainment.
One or other; an undetermined or unspecified. Freq. with the indefiniteness emphasized by or other (cf. OTHER pronoun & noun 5a). OE.
Shelley His Grace..expects to enter..Jerusalem some Palm Sunday in triumph. C. P. Snow I achieved some sort of calm. Scott Fitzgerald He was the head of some combine. W. Golding I was..quoting from some play or other. A. S. Byatt Outside, for some reason, Oxford bells were pealing.
With generalizing force: = sense 6 below. OE-M17.
Bible (Coverdale): Ecclesiasticus 20:5 Some man kepeth sylence, and is founde wyse.
A certain amount, part, degree, or extent of; at least a small amount of, no little amount of, a considerable. OE.
Shakespeare Hamlet Rest here in our court Some little time. Steele He..calls for some Posset-drink. G. Millerson The camera has to be positioned some way from the subject. I. Murdoch He was prepared to put up some money. J. Simms You have known for some time that we are here.
b. Quite a; a remarkable. colloq. Freq. iron. E19.
A. Price 'David has us to console him.'..'Some consolation!' murmured Frances. A. Tyler Watch...This man here is some operator.
c. pred. Of some account, deserving of consideration. US. M19.
M. Twain Smarty! You think you're some, now, don't you.
With a singular quantity or amount: = sense 8 below. L16.
Thomas Hughes Distant some mile or so from the school.
II. With pl. nouns.
Certain (taken individually). OE.
Goldsmith There is Seneca, and Bolingbroke, and some others. John Phillips Oligoclase occurs in some granites. R. MacNeil Some boys..wore..buckled overshoes.
An unspecified number of; a few (at least). OE.
J. Marquand There were some men..half-way down the steps. W. Sansom A small..church some kilometres away. A. N. Wilson In this way, for some years, Giles's life had passed.
(With following numeral adjective) that is an approximate amount; passing into adverb use: about, nearly, approximately. Formerly also, with numerals denoting the time of day. OE.
G. Greene I found myself in a..cave some eight feet high. M. Schapiro In Arles, Vincent painted some forty-six portraits.
C. adverb. (See also sense B.8 above.)
A certain amount; a little; slightly; somewhat. Now colloq. & dial. exc. in some more. ME.
W. Faulkner We got to eat and then sleep some. T. Heggen When he left.., Roberts felt some better. I. Murdoch Let's meet tomorrow and discuss it some more. R. Macdonald 'Has Lester been talking?' 'Some. But not enough.' M. Machlin He's going to be some pissed off when he finds out.
Very much, very well, a lot. Chiefly in go some below. colloq. (orig. US). M19.
Phrases: all and some: see ALL pronoun 4. and then some slang and (plenty) more in addition. get some US slang have sexual intercourse, find a sexual partner. go some (colloq., orig. US) go well or fast, do well, work hard. other some: see OTHER adjective. some and some a few at a time, gradually. some FEW. some hope!, some hopes!: see HOPE noun1. to some tune: see TUNE noun.