sort

n.

1. A group of persons or things of the same general character; a kind.
2. Character or nature: books of all sorts.
3. One that exemplifies the characteristics of or serves a similar function to another: "A large dinner-party ... made a sort of general introduction for her to the society of the neighbourhood" (George Eliot).
4. A person; an individual: The clerk is a decent sort.
5. A way of acting or behaving.
6. sorts Printing. One of the characters in a font of type.
7. An act or instance of sorting: did a sort on the columns of data.

tr.v., sort·ed, sort·ing, sorts.

1. To arrange according to class, kind, or size; classify. See synonyms at arrange.
2. To separate from others: sort out the wheat from the chaff.
3. To clarify by going over mentally: She tried to sort out her problems.

idioms:

after a sort

1. In a haphazard or imperfect way: managed to paint the chair after a sort.

of sorts (or a sort)

1. Of a mediocre or inferior kind: a constitutional government of a sort.
2. Of one kind or another: knew many folktales of sorts.

out of sorts

1. Slightly ill.
2. Irritable; cross: The teacher is out of sorts this morning.

sort of Informal.

1. Somewhat; rather: "Gambling and prostitution . . . have been prohibited, but only sort of" (George F. Will).

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sors, sort-, lot.]

sortable sort'a·ble adj.
sorter sort'er n.

(1) A sort program.

(2) A person who manually puts data into a specific sequence.

(3) An early tabulating machine that enabled punch cards to be rearranged into numerical or alphabetical order by directing them into separate stackers based on the content of one card column. For example, to sort a 10 digit account number, the entire set of cards had to be passed through the machine 10 times.

From the early 20th century to the 1960s and even thereafter, data processing was a sequential operation. All the data on punch cards, and eventually magnetic tape, were maintained in sequence by some type of account number, and updating was accomplished by sorting the transactions into that same order and matching them sequentially against the master data. By the 1950s, millions of punch cards were sorted daily in machines such as the IBM sorter below. See punch card.

A Punch Card Sorter

Machines like this IBM sorter were in every major company in the world when this picture was taken in 1960 of Alan Freedman, editor of this encyclopedia.

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your iPhone/iTouch

Computer file maintenance: process that arranges records in the appropriate sequence.

Direct mail: process of batching mail by its destination prior to mailing, or batching documents for distribution and/or handling. For example, incoming direct-mail orders are usually sorted by cash and credit orders so that the cash orders can receive special handling.

To arrange a group of items in numerical or alphabetical order. Many computer operating systems include built-in sorting programs.

also sort out

noun

A class that is defined by the common attribute or attributes possessed by all its members: breed, cast, description, feather, ilk, kind², lot, manner, mold, nature, order, species, stamp, stripe, type, variety. Informal persuasion. See group.

verb

1. To distribute into groups according to kinds. assort, categorize, class, classify, group, pigeonhole, separate. See collect/distribute.
2. To put into a deliberate order: arrange, array, deploy, dispose, marshal, order, organize, range, systematize. See order/disorder.
3. To set apart (one kind or type) from others: separate, sift, winnow. See include/exclude.

v

Definition: place in order
Antonyms: disorder, disorganize

---

(DOD) In counterdrug operations, the process involved in differentiating traffic that could be involved in drug trafficking from legitimate air traffic. Initial sorting criteria are established jointly by the US Coast Guard and US Customs Service, coordinated with Department of Defense counterparts, and disseminated as required. See also counterdrug operations.

IN BRIEF: To group things that are alike in some way. Also: Quality or type.

People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like. — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - art, slags, sort, sortering
v. tr. - sortere, ordne

idioms:

• after a sort    på en måde, noget i den retning
• all sorts of    alle mulige og umulige
• in some sort    på en måde
• of a sort    en slags
• of sorts    sådan en slags
• out of sorts    føle sig skidt tilpas, ikke være helt rask, ikke have det helt godt
• sort of    noget i den stil
• sort out    ordne
• sorting office    sorteringskontor, postekspeditionscenter

Nederlands (Dutch)
sorteren, soort, klasse, type, soortement

Français (French)
n. - sorte, genre, espèce, gens de son espèce, du genre à, (Comput) tri
v. tr. - classer, trier, ranger, séparer

idioms:

• after a sort    après rangement/triage
• all sorts of    toutes sortes de
• in some sort    en quelque sorte, d'une certaine façon
• of a sort    d'une certaine façon
• of sorts    une sorte de, un semblant de
• out of sorts    (ne pas être) dans son assiette, (être) de mauvais poil
• sort of    plus ou moins, une sorte de
• sort out    régler, s'occuper de, clarifier, classer, mettre de l'ordre dans, trier, trouver, réparer
• sort someone out    régler son compte à qn, aider qn, remettre sur pied qn
• sorting office    centre de tri

Deutsch (German)
n. - Art, Sorte
v. - sortieren

idioms:

• after a sort    auf eine gewisse Art und Weise
• all sorts of    alle möglichen
• in some sort    in einer gewissen Weise
• of a sort    einer Art
• of sorts    nicht wohl fühlen
• out of sorts    nicht in Form
• sort of    mehr oder weniger
• sort out    klären, sortieren
• sort someone out    jmdm. zeigen, wo's langgeht (ugs)
• sorting office    Postverteilstelle

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - είδος, φύση, ποιόν, τάξη, κατηγορία, βαθμός, τύπος
v. - (ξε)διαλέγω, ταξινομώ, ευρετηριάζω, τακτοποιώ, (καθομ.) συνταιριάζω

idioms:

• after a sort    κατά κάποιον τρόπο
• all sorts of    κάθε είδους
• in some sort    σε κάποιο βαθμό
• of a sort    κάποιου είδους
• of sorts    κάποιου είδους
• out of sorts    κακόκεφος, αδιάθετος
• sort of    κάπως έτσι, κάτι τέτοιο, περίπου
• sort out    τακτοποιώ, (ξε)διαλέγω, επιλύω
• sorting office    γραφείο διαλογής ταχυδρομείου

Italiano (Italian)
tipo, genere

idioms:

• after a sort    in un certo senso
• all sorts of    ogni sorta di
• in some sort    in qualche modo
• of sorts/a sort    più o meno
• out of sorts    di malumore
• sort of    più o meno
• sort out    smistare
• sorting office    ufficio smistamento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - caráter (m), classe (f), tipo (m)
v. - classificar, separar, escolher

idioms:

• after a sort    até certo ponto
• all sorts of    todos os tipos de
• in some sort    de algum modo
• of sorts/a sort    de certa maneira
• out of sorts    mal humorado, indisposto
• sort of    mais ou menos
• sort out    escolher
• sorting office    departamento de distribuição

Русский (Russian)
вид, сорт, разновидность, разряд, тип, способ, сортировать, относить к какой-л. группе, соотноситься

idioms:

• after a sort    некоторым образом, в некотором роде, кое-как
• all sorts of    всевозможные, самые различные
• in some sort    некоторым образом, в некотором роде, кое-как
• of sorts/a sort    посредственный, так себе, кое-какой
• out of sorts    не в духе, в расстроенных чувствах, не в своей тарелке
• sort of    вроде, как бы, в известной мере
• sort out    сортировать, классифицировать
• sorting office    отдел сортировки (на почте)

Español (Spanish)
n. - clase, tipo, especie, modo, forma, persona
v. tr. - ordenar, clasificar, arreglar, distribuir en grupos, escoger, entresacar, separar

idioms:

• after a sort    de cierto modo, en cierta manera
• all sorts of    toda clase de, todo tipo de
• in some sort    hasta cierto punto
• of a sort    una especie de
• of sorts    una especie de
• out of sorts    de mal humor, enfadado, pachucho
• sort of    más o menos, un poco, de cierto modo
• sort out    clasificar, seleccionar, resolver
• sort someone out    encargarse de alguien que está causando problemas
• sorting office    oficina de distribución del correo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sort, typ, vis
v. - sortera, ordna, ställa samman, reda upp

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
种类, 类型, 品种, 性格, 性质, 某种人, 某类人, 把...分类, 整理, 挑选, 区分

idioms:

• after a sort    稍微
• all sorts of    很多种...
• in some sort    稍微
• of a sort    同一类的, 较差的
• of sorts    各种各样的
• out of sorts    身体不适, 心情不佳
• sort of    有几分, 有那么点儿
• sort out    挑出
• sorting office    信件分拣室

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 種類, 類型, 品種, 性格, 性質, 某種人, 某類人
v. tr. - 把...分類, 整理, 挑選, 區分

idioms:

• after a sort    稍微
• all sorts of    很多種...
• in some sort    稍微
• of a sort    同一類的, 較差的
• of sorts    各種各樣的
• out of sorts    身體不適, 心情不佳
• sort of    有幾分, 有那麼點兒
• sort out    挑出
• sorting office    信件分揀室

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 종류, 대수롭지 않은, 양식
v. tr. - 종류로 구분하다, ~을 구별하다, (컴퓨터) 차례 짓다

idioms:

• in some sort    어느 정도, 약간
• sort out    가려내다, 구분하다, 징계하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 種類, …な人, 品質
v. - 分類する, 修理する

idioms:

• all sorts of    あらゆる種類の
• of sorts/a sort    まあ一種の, いいかげんな
• out of sorts    気分がすぐれない, 機嫌が悪い
• sort of    多少
• sort out    えり分ける, 整理する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شخص أو شيء, أسلوب, طريقه, مجموعه, ضرب, نوع (فعل) ينسجم, يعاشر, يصنف, يفرز‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מין, סוג, אדם, ברנש, טיפוס‬
v. tr. - ‮מיין, סיווג, סידר, ברר‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.

Heap Sort	stretch sort