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OR SO
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I. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct
Example:
20 or so people were at the party
Synonyms:
about; approximately; around; close to; just about; more or less; or so; roughly; some
Classified under:
Context examples:
Was he dead a hundred years or so, like most of the poets?
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It quite broke his career, or so it seemed.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
It must always be in the same relative position to the ventilator and to the rope—or so we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He visited Grey Beaver's camp often, and hidden under his coat was always a black bottle or so.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Scientists estimate that about another 250 or so are waiting to be discovered.
(NASA Juno data indicate another possible volcano on Jupiter moon Io, NASA)
Yes, I was there, and lingered for a quarter of an hour or so.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Drink, Richard: it will give you the heart you lack, for an hour or so.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Only for the last week or so.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
So much the better—or so much the worse:—I do not know which.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
“Will you trust yourself to me for a journey of six hundred miles or so?” I asked.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
