Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

sortmore about sort

sort

 

  6  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Sort  \Sort\,  n.  [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. 
  --Shak. 
 
  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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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. 
 
  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  --Shak. 
 
  5.  To  conform;  to  adapt;  to  accommodate.  [R.] 
 
  I  pray  thee,  sort  thy  heart  to  patience.  --Shak. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Sort  \Sort\,  v.  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  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},  {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  it 
  the  process  of  sorting"  [syn:  {sorting}] 
  v  1:  examine  in  order  to  test  suitability;  "screen  these 
  samples";  "screen  the  job  applicants"  [syn:  {screen},  {screen 
  out},  {sieve}] 
  2:  arrange  or  order  by  classes  or  categories;  "How  would  you 
  classify  these  pottery  shards--are  they  prehistoric?" 
  [syn:  {classify},  {class},  {assort},  {sort  out},  {separate}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  sort 
 
  1.    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.    The  {Unix}  utility  program  for  sorting  lines  of 
  files. 
 
  {Unix  manual  page}:  sort(1). 
 
  (1997-02-12)




more about sort