Sekirov Dictionary

sort

UK /sɔːt/US /soɹt/

noun 13
verb 10
forms 4
phrases 3

noun13

•
a kind or type
- 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. — 2013
A type.
•
An act of sorting.
- I had a sort of my cupboard.
•
(informal) A person evaluated in a certain way.
- There is no problem with this and he seems to be a decent sort with very good reflexes. I will have Felix replaced with him when we get back to Washington because he is more acceptable. — 1999
•
An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence.
- Popular algorithms for sorts include quicksort and heapsort.
•
A piece of metal type used to print one letter, character, or symbol in a particular size and style.
- Green managed to recover a total of 151 sorts (the name for individual pieces of type) out of a possible 500,000. — 2024
(UK, informal) A good-looking woman.
•
(no longer used) Manner, way; form of being or acting.
- I’ll deceive you in another sort — 1590
(no longer used) Condition above the vulgar; rank.
•
(no longer used) Group, company.
- a sort of shepherds suing of the Chace — 1595
•
(no longer used) Fate, fortune, destiny.
- For he is grosse and like the massie earth, That mooues not vpwards, nor by princely deeds Doth meane to soare aboue the highest sort. — 1587
•
(no longer used) Anything used to determine the answer to a question by chance; lot.
- No, make a lottery; And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw The sort to fight with Hector. — 1602
(no longer used) A full set of anything, such as a pair of shoes or a suit of clothes.

verb10

•
To separate items into different categories according to certain criteria that determine their sorts.
- Sort the letters in those bags into a separate pile for each language.
•
To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
- Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insecta. — 1635
•
(UK, informal) To fix (a problem) or handle (a task).
- ‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming [title] — 2024
•
To arrange into some sequence, usually numerically, alphabetically or chronologically.
- Sort those bells into a row in ascending sequence of pitch.
•
(UK, informal) To attack physically.
- If he comes nosing around here again I'll sort him!
•
To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
- They are happie men, whose natures sort with their vocations, otherwise they may say Multum incola fuit anima mea; when they converse in those things they doe not affect. — 1612
To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
To geld.
•
(no longer used) To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
- I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience. — 1591
•
(no longer used) To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
- To send his mother to her father's house, that he may sort her out a worthy spouse — 1616

forms

sorted · sorting · sorteth · sorts

Phrases with sort

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