Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Sort
Sort
,Noun.
Chance; lot; destiny.
[Obs.]
By aventure, or
sort
, or cas [chance]. Chaucer.
Let blockish Ajax draw
The
The
sort
to fight with Hector. Shakespeare
Sort
,Noun.
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
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
Shall I appear?
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
Vowed against his voyage.
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
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there.
kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there.
Milton.
None of noble
Would so offend a virgin.
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.
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.