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2 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Sort \Sort\, n. [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.
[1913 Webster]
2. Manner; form of being or acting.
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Which for my part I covet to perform,
In sort as through the world I did proclaim.
--Spenser.
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Flowers, in such sort worn, can neither be smelt nor
seen well by those that wear them. --Hooker.
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I'll deceive you in another sort. --Shak.
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To Adam in what sort
Shall I appear? --Milton.
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I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some
sort I have copied his style. --Dryden.
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3. Condition above the vulgar; rank. [Obs.] --Shak.
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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.
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A boy, a child, and we a sort of us,
Vowed against his voyage. --Chapman.
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5. A pair; a set; a suit. --Johnson.
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6. pl. (Print.) Letters, figures, points, marks, spaces, or
quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered.
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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.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: Kind; species; rank; condition.
Usage: 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.
[1913 Webster]
As when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there. --Milton.
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None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin. --Shak.
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Sort \Sort\, n. [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. --Shak.
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.
Usage: 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.
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