Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SOME, a. [sum; Sax. sum, sume; D. sommige; Sw. somlige; Sw. and Dan. som, who.]

1. Noting a certain quantity of a thing, but indeterminate; a portion greater or less. Give me some bread; drink some wine; bring some water.
2. Noting a number of persons or things, greater or less, but indeterminate. Some theoretical writers alledge that there was a time when there was no such thing as society. – Blackstone.
3. Noting a person or thing, but not known, or not specific and definite. Some person, I know not who, gave me the information. Enter the city, and some man will direct you to the house. Most gentlemen of property, at some period or other of their lives, are ambitious of representing their county in parliament. – Blackstone.
4. It sometimes precedes a word of number or quantity, with the sense of about or near, noting want of certainty as to the specific number or amount, but something near it; as, a village of some eighty houses; some two or three persons; some seventy miles distant; an object at some good distance. – Bacon.
5. Some is often opposed to others. Some men believe one thing, and others another.
6. Some is often used without a noun, and then like other adjectives, is a substitute for a noun. We consumed some of our provisions, and the rest was given to the poor. Some to the shores do fly, / Some to the woods. – Daniel. Your edicts some reclaim from sins, / But most your life and blest example wins. – Dryden.
7. Some is used as a termination of certain adjectives, as in handsome, mettlesome, blithesome, fullsome, lonesome, gladsome, gamesome. In these words, some has primarily the sense of little, or a certain degree; a little blithe or glad. But in usage, it rather indicates a considerable degree of the thing or quantity; as, mettlesome, full of mettle or spirit; gladsome, very glad or joyous.