something

Meanings

1. 1
   pron

   An uncertain or unspecified thing; one thing.

   I must have forgotten to pack something, but I can't think what.

2. 2
   pron

   A quality to a moderate degree.

   The performance was something of a disappointment.

3. 3
   pron

   A talent or quality that is difficult to specify.

   She has a certain something.

4. 4
   pron

   Somebody who or something that is superlative or notable in some way.

   He's really something! I've never heard such a great voice.

5. 5
   adj

   Having a characteristic that the speaker cannot specify.

   "Very poetic." They came to a halt before the outer door. "It's very something," Rusty said wistfully. "How do you do it?"

6. 6
   adv

   Somewhat; to a degree.

   The baby looks something like his father.

7. 7
   adv

   Used to adverbialise a following adjective

   I miss them something terrible/rotten. (I miss them terribly)

8. 8
   verb

   Designates an action whose name is forgotten by, unknown or unimportant to the user, e.g. from words of a song.

   1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0140439234&id=IOZeJi7U4eEC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&sig=LW2P-uKmoZabe70ZKnIHIMQLXlw He didn’t apply for it for a long time, and then there was a hitch about it, and it was somethinged—vetoed, I believe she said.

Etymology

From Middle English somþyng, some-thing, som thing, sum thinge, sum þinge, from Old English sum þing (literally “some thing”), equivalent to some + thing. Compare Old English āwiht (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”), Swedish någonting (“something”, literally “some thing, any thing”).