it means “how it was”… it is used before someone would say what happened.
Ie. Jim was going to the shops. As it were, I was going there too so I gave him a lift.
Found this in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
Seemingly, in a way, as in “He was living in a dream world, as it were.” A shortening of “as if it were so,” this idiom has been in use since Chaucer’s time (he had it in his Nun’s Priest’s Tale, c. 1386).
it means “how it was”… it is used before someone would say what happened.
Ie. Jim was going to the shops. As it were, I was going there too so I gave him a lift.
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislike“it” being the situation
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislikeFound this in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
Seemingly, in a way, as in “He was living in a dream world, as it were.” A shortening of “as if it were so,” this idiom has been in use since Chaucer’s time (he had it in his Nun’s Priest’s Tale, c. 1386).
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislike