I. ˈsəm, for 2 without stress 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. ˈsəm 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. ˈsəm, ˌsəm 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