sort
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
sort
n 1: a category of things distinguished by some common
characteristic or quality; "sculpture is a form of art";
"what kinds of desserts are there?" [syn: {kind}, {sort},
{form}, {variety}]
2: an approximate definition or example; "she wore a sort of
magenta dress"; "she served a creamy sort of dessert thing"
3: a person of a particular character or nature; "what sort of
person is he?"; "he's a good sort"
4: an operation that segregates items into groups according to a
specified criterion; "the bottleneck in mail delivery is the
process of sorting" [syn: {sort}, {sorting}]
v 1: examine in order to test suitability; "screen these
samples"; "screen the job applicants" [syn: {screen},
{screen out}, {sieve}, {sort}]
2: arrange or order by classes or categories; "How would you
classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?" [syn:
{classify}, {class}, {sort}, {assort}, {sort out},
{separate}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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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.
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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.
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sort \Sort\, v. i.
1. To join or associate with others, esp. with others of the
same kind or species; to agree.
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Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the
earth, and minerals with minerals. --Woodward.
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The illiberality of parents towards children makes
them base, and sort with any company. --Bacon.
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2. To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
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They are happy whose natures sort with their
vocations. --Bacon.
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Things sort not to my will. --herbert.
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I can not tell you precisely how they sorted. --Sir
W. Scott.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sort \Sort\, v. 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.
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Rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted
and sorted from one another. --Sir I.
Newton.
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2. To reduce to order from a confused state. --Hooker.
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3. To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
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Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients,
compared and sorted with insects. --Bacon.
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She sorts things present with things past. --Sir J.
Davies.
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4. To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
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That he may sort out a worthy spouse. --Chapman.
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I'll sort some other time to visit you. --Shak.
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5. To conform; to adapt; to accommodate. [R.]
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I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience. --Shak.
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from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
sort
sorting
1. <application, algorithm> To arrange a collection of items
in some specified order. The items - {records} in a file or
data structures in memory - consist of one or more {fields} or
members. One of these fields is designated as the "sort key"
which means the records will be ordered according to the value
of that field. Sometimes a sequence of key fields is
specified such that if all earlier keys are equal then the
later keys will be compared. Within each field some ordering
is imposed, e.g. ascending or descending numerical, {lexical
ordering}, or date.
Sorting is the subject of a great deal of study since it is a
common operation which can consume a lot of computer time.
There are many well-known sorting {algorithms} with different
time and space behaviour and programming {complexity}.
Examples are {quicksort}, {insertion sort}, {bubble sort},
{heap sort}, and {tree sort}. These employ many different
data structures to store sorted data, such as {arrays},
{linked lists}, and {binary trees}.
2. <tool> The {Unix} utility program for sorting lines of
files.
{Unix manual page}: sort(1).
(1997-02-12)
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
200 Moby Thesaurus words for "sort":
adjust, ailing, alphabetize, analyze, appraise, arrange, array,
assess, assort, batch, battery, blood, body, body-build, bolt,
brand, break down, breed, bulk, cast, catalog, catalogue,
categorize, category, character, characteristic, characteristics,
characterize, choose, clan, clarify, class, classification,
classify, clear up, clutch, codify, collate, color, comb, combine,
complexion, composition, constituents, constitution,
contradistinguish, crasis, cull, decide, demarcate, demark,
denomination, describe, description, designation, dharma,
diathesis, differentiate, digest, discriminate, disposition,
distinguish, divide, draw the line, enlarge, ethos, evaluate,
factor, family, feather, fiber, file, form, frame, gauge, genius,
genre, genus, gradate, grade, graduate, grain, group, habit, hue,
humor, humors, identify, ilk, index, indisposed, individual,
kidney, kin, kind, label, line, list, lot, low, make, makeup,
manner, mark, mark the interface, match, measure, merge, mold,
mould, nature, number, of a sort, of sorts, order, organize,
out of sorts, parcel, person, persuasion, phylum, physique, pick,
pick out, pigeonhole, place, property, proportion, put straight,
quality, race, range, rank, rate, resolve, riddle, screen,
screen out, segregate, select, separate, set, set a limit,
set apart, set off, set straight, sever, severalize, shape, sieve,
sieve out, sift, sift out, size, solve, somatotype, somewhat,
sort of, sort out, species, spirit, split hairs, stamp, stock,
straighten out, strain, streak, stripe, style, subdivide, subgenus,
subordinate, subspecies, subtilize, suchness, suite, system,
systematize, systemize, tabulate, temper, temperament, tendency,
tenor, the like of, the likes of, thing, thrash out, throw,
tidy up, tone, tribe, type, under the weather, unwell, variety,
vein, way, weigh, winnow
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