[Grammar] Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

[Mori]

Longman Business Dictionary:

north /nɔːθnɔːrθ/ adverb
To be a big player, a company must spend somewhere north of $500 million a year.

"North of" is an adverbial phrase meaning "above / more than". However, "north" by itself seems to be a noun in this phrase. Shouldn't "north" have been categorized as a noun in this dictionary?

 

[Mori]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

North is not a noun in that sentence.

What part of speech is it, then?

 

[Roman55]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

It's an adverb.

 

[Mori]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

North is not a noun in that sentence.

Weird! It's classified under north (n.) in the Cambridge dictionary.

 

[Mori]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

Scroll down on the page you linked us to, and you'll find:

north adverb

also North UK

​

​​

/nɔːrθ/ written abbreviation N, uk also Nth, us also No

​

​

A2​

towards the north:
Go due (= directly) north for two miles.

The garden faces north and doesn't get much sun in the winter.

up north informal​to or in the north of the country or region:
I live in London, but my relatives live up north, in Manchester.

Yes, "north" in that sense is an adverb, but on the same page "north of sth" is labeled as an idiom under "north" .

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

I think 'north' is an adverb in 'north of', as 'instead' is an adverb in 'instead of'.

 

[Mori]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

I think 'north' is an adverb in 'north of', as 'instead' is an adverb in 'instead of'.

Then the Cambridge dictionary is wrong, right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/north-of-sth
The Cambridge dictionary above does not mark 'north' in 'north of something' as a noun.

 

[Mori]

Re: Is "north" an adverb in "somewhere north of $500 million a year"?

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/north-of-sth
The Cambridge dictionary above does not mark 'north' in 'north of something' as a noun.

But "north of sth" is labeled as an idiom under "north" . They could have put it under "north" (adv).