Somewhere

adv. and sb. Forms: 3 (Orm.) summhwær, 4 sumwhare, -whore, -wher(e, 6 -whear; 4 sumquar(e, -quer, 5 -qwhare; 4 sum-, somwar; 4 some-, 5 somwhare; 4 sommewhere, 5–7 somwhere, 5– somewhere. [f. SOME a.¹ + WHERE adv. Down to the end of the 16th c. freq. written as two words.]

  A.  adv. 1. In or at some place unspecified, indeterminate or unknown.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 6929. Forr þatt he wass forrdredd tatt teȝȝ Himm sholldenn summwhær hidenn.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 4344. King arþure was þer of ywar, & þoȝte … Wiþ al is poer bi þe wey somwar him kepe.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Spec. Lyric P., xxxix. 110. He hath hewe sum wher a burthen of brere.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 371/2. Sumqwhare, alicubi.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 106. An holy saynt … serued in many chirches, and some where here in Englande.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 14. Others … wander up and downe to meet somewhere with a refreshing shade.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 256. What malicious Foe … somwhere nigh at hand Watches.

1796.  Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, IV. 390. A paper in her hand-writing, which she had somewhere lost.

1827.  Scott, Chron. Canongate, Introd. As it was suspected that he was lurking somewhere on the property, his family were closely watched.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, II. III. xxii. 154. Arthur must be somewhere in the back rooms.

1878.  G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxvi. 448. There’s something wrong somewhere.

  b.  With correlative somewhere or otherwhere.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. iv. (Bodl. MS.). In coloure … somewhare he [a river] is clere and somewhare he is dymme.

1630.  R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 423. Many places lying waste, somewhere for want of water, somewhere for want of manurance, somewhere for abundance of light sand.

1632.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 493. A Regall Commission … beeing some-where obeyed, and other-where suspended.

  c.  Somewhere else, in some other place, elsewhere.

c. 1500.  Communycacyon (W. de W.), C ij. Man thou must alwaye suffre payne Here for thy synnes or somwhere elles.

1530.  Palsgr., 823/1. Some where els, quelque aultre part.

1588.  Shaks., Tit. A., IV. iii. 40. She is so imploy’d, He thinkes with Ioue in heauen, or some where else: So that perforce you must needs stay a time.

1611.  Cotgr., Ailleurs, elsewhere, somewhere else.

1737.  Gentl. Mag., VII. 603/2. We must therefore look some where else for the Cause of our present Uneasiness.

  d.  Somewhere or another or other.

1791.  Charlotte Smith, Celestina (ed. 2), I. 129. Here Daniel, prythee take and stow it somewhere or another.

1799.  E. Du Bois, Piece Family Biog., I. 58–9. ‘I have heard somewhere or another,’ said he, ‘that [etc.].’

1852.  C. W. Hoskyns, Talpa, i. (1854), 2. Somewhere or other in England there is a flat bleak high-lying district, which [etc.].

  2.  To some (unspecified or unknown) place. Usually with the verb go.

c. 1403.  Clanvowe, Cuckow & Night., 112. Now, gode Cukkow! go som-where away.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Edw. V., 9. Is it not likely that she wyll send him somwhere out of the realme!

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 5. Perhaps … from the Mart he’s somewhere gone to dinner.

1592.  Kyd, Sp. Trag., III. x. To … carry you obscurely some where els.

1720.  De Foe, Capt. Singleton (1906), 37. We were upon a voyage and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and nowhere.

1780.  Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 359. Charles is gone out of town somewhere to-day.

  † 3.  In some places; here and there. Obs. rare.

1563.  Nowell, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 20. The coopie … was interlined and sumwhear blotted.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, V. xxxiii. 593–4. The Turnep loueth an open place, it is sowen somwhere in vineyardes, as at Huygarden and the Countrie thereaboutes.

  4.  In some part or passage of a book, etc.; in some work or other.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 74. The Bashaw, in this Itenerary some where spoken of.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., II. § 23. A fable, I somewhere met with in the writings of a Swiss philosopher.

1780.  Mirror, No. 102. 405. Lord Chesterfield says somewhere, that, to speak and act with spirit, is to speak rudely and act foolishly.

1820.  Byron, Juan, IV. cx. As some one somewhere sings about the sky.

  5.  a. At some time about or in (a certain specified year, date, etc.).

1839.  Penny Cycl., XIII. 168/1. He is said to have been born somewhere about A. D. 40.

1859.  Ruskin, Two Paths, iii. § 91. An old English cottage,… perhaps built somewhere in the Charleses’ times.

1891.  C. T. C. James, Rom. Rigmarole, iv. 32. I woke up out of my nap somewhere about five o’clock.

  b.  Somewhere about, approximately.

1846.  Ryland, in Life & Corr. Foster, II. 343. He kept his room somewhere about two months.

1876.  Tait, Rec. Adv. Phys. Sci., vi. 157. The sun’s radiation is … somewhere about thirty-fold that of the same area of the furnace of a locomotive.

  B.  sb. Some unspecified or indefinite place.

1647.  Cowley, Mistr. (1669), 22. Then down I laid my Head; and for a while was Dead, And my freed Soul to a strange Somewhere fled.

1718.  D’Urfey, Grecian Heroine, V. i. I would fain think now, But that my Spirits, with my Blood, are posting To their new some-where.

1785.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscretions (1786), I. 54. It was a somewhere, a home.

  So Somewheres adv. (dial. or vulg.)

1859.  Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 428. A hundred dollars, or somewheres there along.

1883.  Stevenson, Treasure Isl., xxviii. I know you’ve got that ship safe somewheres.