Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Sort

Sort

,
Noun.
[F.
sorl
, L.
sors
,
sortis
. See
Sort
kind.]
Chance; lot; destiny.
[Obs.]
By aventure, or
sort
, or cas [chance].
Chaucer.
Let blockish Ajax draw
The
sort
to fight with Hector.
Shakespeare

Sort

,
Noun.
[F.
sorie
(cf. It.
sorta
,
sorte
), from L.
sors
,
sorti
, a lot, part, probably akin to
serere
to connect. See
Series
, and cf.
Assort
,
Consort
,
Resort
,
Sorcery
,
Sort
lot.]
1.
A kind or species; any number or collection of individual persons or things characterized by the same or like qualities; a class or order;
as, a
sort
of men; a
sort
of horses; a
sort
of trees; a
sort
of poems.
2.
Manner; form of being or acting.
Which for my part I covet to perform,
In
sort
as through the world I did proclaim.
Spenser.
Flowers, in such
sort
worn, can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them.
Hooker.
I’ll deceive you in another
sort
.
Shakespeare
To Adam in what
sort

Shall I appear?
Milton.
I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some
sort
I have copied his style.
Dryden.
3.
Condition above the vulgar; rank.
[Obs.]
Shak.
4.
A chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals.
[Obs.]
“A sort of shepherds.”
Spenser.
“A sort of steers.”
Spenser.
“A sort of doves.”
Dryden.
“A sort of rogues.”
Massinger.
A boy, a child, and we a
sort
of us,
Vowed against his voyage.
Chapman.
5.
A pair; a set; a suit.
Johnson.
6.
pl.
(Print.)
Letters, figures, points, marks, spaces, or quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered.
Out of sorts
(Print.)
,
with some letters or sorts of type deficient or exhausted in the case or font; hence, colloquially, out of order; ill; vexed; disturbed.
–
To run upon sorts
(Print.)
,
to use or require a greater number of some particular letters, figures, or marks than the regular proportion, as, for example, in making an index.
Syn. – Kind; species; rank; condition.
–
Sort
,
Kind
. Kind originally denoted things of the same family, or bound together by some natural affinity; and hence, a class. Sort signifies that which constitutes a particular lot of parcel, not implying necessarily the idea of affinity, but of mere assemblage. the two words are now used to a great extent interchangeably, though sort (perhaps from its original meaning of lot) sometimes carries with it a slight tone of disparagement or contempt, as when we say, that sort of people, that sort of language.
As when the total
kind

Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there.
Milton.
None of noble
sort

Would so offend a virgin.
Shakespeare

Sort

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sorted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sorting
.]
1.
To separate, and place in distinct classes or divisions, as things having different qualities;
as, to
sort
cloths according to their colors; to
sort
wool or thread according to its fineness.
Rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted and
sorted
from one another.
Sir I. Newton.
2.
To reduce to order from a confused state.
Hooker.
3.
To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and
sorted
with insects.
Bacon.
She
sorts
things present with things past.
Sir J. Davies.
4.
To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
That he may
sort
out a worthy spouse.
Chapman.
I'll
sort
some other time to visit you.
Shakespeare
5.
To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
[R.]
I pray thee,
sort
thy heart to patience.
Shakespeare

Sort

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To join or associate with others, esp. with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
Nor do metals only
sort
and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals.
Woodward.
The illiberality of parents towards children makes them base, and
sort
with any company.
Bacon.
2.
To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
They are happy whose natures
sort
with their vocations.
Bacon.
Things
sort
not to my will.
herbert.
I can not tell you precisely how they
sorted
.
Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sort

SORT

,
Noun.
[L. sors, lot, chance, state, way, sort. This word is form the root of L. sortior; the radical sense of which is to start or shoot, to throw or to fall, to come suddenly. Hence sore is lot, chance, that which comes or falls. This sense of sort is probably derivative, signifying that which is thrown out, separated or selected.]
1.
A kind or species; any number or collection of individual persons or thing characterized by the same or like qualities; as a sort of men; a sort of horses; a sort of trees; a sort of poems or writings. Sort is not a technical word, and therefore is used with less precision or more latitude than genus or species in the sciences.
2.
Manner; form of being or acting. Flowers, in such sort worn, can neither be smelt not seen well by those that wear them. To Adam in what sort shall I appear?
3.
Class or order; as men of the wiser sort, or the better sort; all sorts of people. [See Def. 1.]
4.
Rank; condition above the vulgar. [Not in use.]
5.
A company or knot of people. [Not in use.]
6.
Degree of any quality. I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I have copied his style.
7.
Lot.
8.
A pair; a set; a suit.

Definition 2024

sort

sort

See also: sórt, sòrt, sört, and şort

English

Noun

sort ‎(plural sorts)

  1. A general type.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
        Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.
    • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:
      Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.
  2. Manner; form of being or acting.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      Which for my part I covet to perform, / In sort as through the world I did proclaim.
    • Richard Hooker (1554-1600)
      Flowers, in such sort worn, can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      I'll deceive you in another sort.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      To Adam in what sort / Shall I appear?
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I have copied his style.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterII:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
  3. (obsolete) Condition above the vulgar; rank.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  4. (dated) Group, company.
  5. (informal) A person.
    This guy's a decent sort.‎
  6. An act of sorting.
    I had a sort of my cupboard.‎
  7. (computing) An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence.
    Popular sorts include quicksort and heapsort.‎
  8. (typography) A piece of metal type used to print one letter, character, or symbol in a particular size and style.
  9. (mathematics) A type.
  10. (obsolete) Chance; lot; destiny.
  11. (obsolete) A pair; a set; a suit.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:sort.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Old French sortir ‎(“allot, sort”), from Latin sortire ‎(“draw lots, divide, choose”), from sors.

Verb

sort ‎(third-person singular simple present sorts, present participle sorting, simple past and past participle sorted)

  1. (transitive) To separate according to certain criteria.
    • Isaac Newton
      Rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted and sorted from one another.
  2. (transitive) To arrange into some order, especially numerically, alphabetically or chronologically.
  3. (Britain) To fix a problem, to handle a task; to sort out.
  4. (transitive) To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
    • Francis Bacon
      Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insects.
    • Sir J. Davies
      She sorts things present with things past.
  5. (intransitive) To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
    • Woodward
      Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals.
    • Francis Bacon
      The illiberality of parents towards children makes them base, and sort with any company.
  6. (intransitive) To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
    • Francis Bacon
      They are happy whose natures sort with their vocations.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      I cannot tell ye precisely how they sorted.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
    • Shakespeare
      I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
    • Chapman
      that he may sort out a worthy spouse
    • Shakespeare
      I'll sort some other time to visit you.
Usage notes

In British sense “to fix a problem”, often used in the form “I’ll get you sorted,” or “Now that’s sorted,” – in American usage sort out is used instead.

Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: law · show · terms · #434: sort · town · dark · ye

Anagrams

Catalan

Noun

sort f ‎(uncountable)

  1. luck
  2. fortune

Derived terms

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse svartr ‎(“black”), from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swordo- ‎(“dirty, dark, black”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [soɐ̯d̥]
  • Rhymes: -ɒː

Adjective

sort

  1. black (absorbing all light)
Inflection
Inflection of sort
Positive Comparative Superlative
Common singular sort sortere sortest2
Neuter singular sort sortere sortest2
Plural sorte sortere sortest2
Definite attributive1 sorte sortere sorteste
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Etymology 2

Borrowing from French sorte ‎(“class, kind”), from Latin sors ‎(“lot, fate”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [sɒːˀd̥]

Noun

sort c (singular definite sorten, plural indefinite sorter)

  1. sort, kind
  2. quality
  3. brand
  4. (botany) cultivar
Declension

References

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɔʁ/
  • Homophone: sors

Etymology 1

From Latin sors, sortis.

Noun

sort m ‎(plural sorts)

  1. fate, destiny (consequences or effects predetermined by past events or a divine will)
  2. lot (something used in determining a question by chance)
  3. spell (magical incantation)

Etymology 2

See sortir.

Verb

sort

  1. third-person singular present indicative of sortir

Friulian

Alternative forms

  • sord (alternative orthography)

Etymology

From Latin surdus.

Adjective

sort

  1. deaf

Related terms

See also

Hungarian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈʃort]

Etymology 1

Borrowing from English shorts.[1]

Noun

sort ‎(plural sortok)

  1. shorts (pants worn primarily in the summer that do not go lower than the knees)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative sort sortok
accusative sortot sortokat
dative sortnak sortoknak
instrumental sorttal sortokkal
causal-final sortért sortokért
translative sorttá sortokká
terminative sortig sortokig
essive-formal sortként sortokként
essive-modal — —
inessive sortban sortokban
superessive sorton sortokon
adessive sortnál sortoknál
illative sortba sortokba
sublative sortra sortokra
allative sorthoz sortokhoz
elative sortból sortokból
delative sortról sortokról
ablative sorttól sortoktól
Possessive forms of sort
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. sortom sortjaim
2nd person sing. sortod sortjaid
3rd person sing. sortja sortjai
1st person plural sortunk sortjaink
2nd person plural sortotok sortjaitok
3rd person plural sortjuk sortjaik
Synonyms

Etymology 2

sor +‎ -t

Noun

sort

  1. accusative singular of sor

References

  1. ↑ Gábor Zaicz, Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete, Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, ISBN 963 7094 01 6

Norman

Etymology

From Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

sort m ‎(plural sorts)

  1. (Jersey) fate

Synonyms

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse svartr; compare Danish sort

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /suʈ/
  • Rhymes: -uʈ

Alternative forms

Adjective

sort ‎(neuter singular sort, definite singular and plural sorte, comparative sortere, indefinite plural sortest, definite plural sorteste)

  1. black (colour)

Etymology 2

Borrowing from French sorte.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɔʈ/
  • Rhymes: -ɔʈ

Noun

sort m ‎(definite singular sorten, indefinite plural sorter, definite plural sortene)

  1. a sort, kind or type

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowing from French sorte.

Noun

sort m ‎(definite singular sorten, indefinite plural sortar, definite plural sortane)

  1. a sort, kind or type

References

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowing from French sorte.

Pronunciation

Noun

sort c

  1. sort, kind

Declension

Inflection of sort 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative sort sorten sorter sorterna
Genitive sorts sortens sorters sorternas

Synonyms

Etymology

From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (= Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), from Old French sorte ‎(“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors ‎(“lot, fate, share, rank, category”).

Pronunciation

Similar Results