Sorrowless Sor"row·less adjective Free from sorrow.

Sorry Sor"ry adjective [ Compar. Sorrier ; superl. Sorriest .] [ Middle English sory , sary , Anglo-Saxon sārig , from sār , noun , sore . See Sore , noun & adjective The original sense was, painful; hence, miserable, sad.] 1. Grieved for the loss of some good; pained for some evil; feeling regret; -- now generally used to express light grief or affliction, but formerly often used to express deeper feeling. "I am sorry for my sins." Piers Plowman.

Ye were made sorry after a godly manner.

2 Cor. vii. 9.

I am sorry for thee, friend; 't is the duke's pleasure.

Shak.

She entered, were he lief or sorry .

Spenser.

2. Melancholy; dismal; gloomy; mournful. Spenser.

All full of chirking was this sorry place.

Chaucer.

3. Poor; mean; worthless; as, a sorry excuse. "With sorry grace." Chaucer.

Cheeks of sorry grain will serve.

Milton.

Good fruit will sometimes grow on a sorry tree.

Sir W. Scott.

Syn. -- Hurt; afflicted; mortified; vexed; chagrined; melancholy; dismal; poor; mean; pitiful.

Sors Sors noun ; plural Sortes . [ Latin ] A lot; also, a kind of divination by means of lots.

Sortes Homericæ or Virgilianæ [ Latin , Homeric or Virgilian lots], a form of divination anciently practiced, which consisted in taking the first passage on which the eye fell, upon opening a volume of Homer or Virgil, or a passage drawn from an urn which several were deposited, as indicating future events, or the proper course to be pursued. In later times the Bible was used for the same purpose by Christians.

Sort Sort noun [ French sorl , Latin sors , sortis . See Sort kind.] Chance; lot; destiny. [ Obsolete]

By aventure, or sort , or cas [ chance].

Chaucer.

Let blockish Ajax draw
The sort to fight with Hector.

Shak.

Sort Sort noun [ French sorie (cf. Italian sorta , sorte ), from Latin sors , sorti , a lot, part, probably akin to serere to connect. See Series , and confer 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. [ Obsolete] Shak.

4. A chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals. [ Obsolete] "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. plural (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. -- 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.

As when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there.

Milton.

None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin.

Shak.

Sort Sort transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Sorted ; present participle & verbal noun 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.

Sort Sort intransitive verb 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.

Sortable Sort"a·ble adjective [ Confer French sortable suitable.] 1. Capable of being sorted.

2. Suitable; befitting; proper. [ Obsolete] con.

Sortably Sort"a·bly adverb Suitable. [ Obsolete] otgrave.

Sortal Sort"al adjective Pertaining to a sort. [ Obsolete] Locke.

Sortance Sort"ance noun [ From Sort , intransitive verb ] Suitableness; agreement. [ Obsolete] hak.

Sorter Sort"er noun One who, or that which, sorts.

Sortes Sor"tes noun , plural of Sors .

Sortie Sor"tie noun [ French, from sortir to go out, to issue, probably from Latin sortus , for surrectus , past participle of surgere to raise up, to rise up. See Source .] (Mil.) The sudden issuing of a body of troops, usually small, from a besieged place to attack or harass the besiegers; a sally.

Sortilege Sor"ti·lege noun [ French sortilège , from Latin sors , sortis , a lot + legere to gather, to select.] The act or practice of drawing lots; divination by drawing lots.

A woman infamous for sortileges and witcheries.

Sir W. Scott.

Sortilegious Sor`ti·le"gious adjective Pertaining to sortilege.

Sortilegy Sor"til"e·gy noun Sortilege. [ R.] De Quincey.

Sortita Sor·ti"ta noun [ Italian , a coming out.] 1. The air sung by any of the principal characters in an opera on entering.

2. A closing voluntary; a postlude.

Sortition Sor·ti"tion noun [ Latin sortitio , from sortiri to draw or cast lots, from sors , sortis , a lot.] Selection or appointment by lot. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Sortment Sort"ment noun Assortiment. [ Obsolete]

Sorus So"rus noun ; plural Sori . [ New Latin , from Greek ... a heap.] (Botany) One of the fruit dots, or small clusters of sporangia, on the back of the fronds of ferns.

Sorus So"rus noun (a) In parasitic fungi, any mass of spores bursting through the epidermis of a host plant. (b) In lichens, a heap of soredia on the thallus.

Sorwe Sor"we noun & v. Sorrow. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Sorweful Sor"we·ful adjective Sorrowful. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Sory So"ry noun [ Latin sory , Greek ....] (Old Min. Chem.) Green vitriol, or some earth imregnated with it.

SOS SOS The letters signified by the signal ( . . . --- . . . ) prescribed by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912 for use by ships in distress.

Soss Soss intransitive verb [ Confer Souse .] To fall at once into a chair or seat; to sit lazily. [ Obsolete] Swift.

Soss Soss transitive verb To throw in a negligent or careless manner; to toss. [ Obsolete] Swift.

Soss Soss noun 1. A lazy fellow. [ Obsolete] Cotgrave.

2. A heavy fall. [ Prov. Eng.] Hallowell.

Soss Soss noun [ See Sesspol .] Anything dirty or muddy; a dirty puddle. [ Prov. Eng.]

Sostenuto Sos`te·nu"to adjective [ Italian ] (Mus.) Sustained; -- applied to a movement or passage the sounds of which are to sustained to the utmost of the nominal value of the time; also, to a passage the tones of which are to be somewhat prolonged or protacted.

Sot Sot noun [ French, from Late Latin sottus ; of unknown origin, confer Ir. sotal pride, soithir proud, or Chald. & NHeb. shoten foolish.] 1. A stupid person; a blockhead; a dull fellow; a dolt. [ Obsolete] outh.

In Egypt oft has seen the sot bow down,
And reverence some d...ified baboon.

Oldham.

2. A person stupefied by excessive drinking; an habitual drunkard. "A brutal sot ." Granville.

Every sign
That calls the staring sots to nasty wine.

Roscommon.

Sot Sot adjective Sottish; foolish; stupid; dull. [ Obsolete] "Rich, but sot ." Marston.

Sot Sot transitive verb To stupefy; to infatuate; to besot. [ R.]

I hate to see a brave, bold fellow sotted .

Dryden.

Sot Sot intransitive verb To tipple to stupidity. [ R.] Goldsmith.

Sotadean So`ta·de"an adjective Sotadic.

Sotadic So·tad"ic adjective Pertaining to, or resembling, the lascivious compositions of the Greek poet Sotades . -- noun A Sotadic verse or poem.

Sote Sote adjective Sweet. [ Obsolete] Chaucer. Fairfax.

Sotel, Sotil So"tel, So"til adjective Subtile. [ Obsolete]

Soteriology So·te`ri·ol"o·gy noun [ Greek ... safety (from ... saving, ... a savoir, ... to save) + -logy .] 1. A discourse on health, or the science of promoting and preserving health.

2. (Theol.) The doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ.

Sothe Sothe adjective Sooth. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Sothiac, Sothic So"thi·ac, Soth"ic adjective Of or pertaining to Sothis, the Egyptian name for the Dog Star; taking its name from the Dog Star; canicular.

Sothiac , or Sothic , year (Chronol.) , the Egyptian year of 365 days and 6 hours, as distinguished from the Egyptian vague year , which contained 365 days. The Sothic period consists of 1,460 Sothic years, being equal to 1,461 vague years. One of these periods ended in July, a.d. 139.

Sotilte So"til·te noun Subtlety. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Sotted Sot"ted adjective & past participle of Sot . Befooled; deluded; besotted. [ Obsolete] "This sotted priest." Chaucer.

Sottery Sot"ter·y noun Folly. [ Obsolete] Gauden.

Sottish Sot"tish adjective [ From Sot .] Like a sot; doltish; very foolish; drunken.

How ignorant are sottish pretenders to astrology!

Swift.

Syn. -- Dull; stupid; senseless; doltish; infatuate.

-- Sot"tish*ly , adverb -- Sot"tish*ness , noun

Sotto voce Sot`to vo"ce [ Italian ] 1. (Mus.) With a restrained voice or moderate force; in an undertone.

2. Spoken low or in an undertone.

Sou Sou noun ; plural Sous or . [ French sou , Old French sol , from Latin solidus a gold coin, in Late Latin , a coin of less value. See Sold , noun , Solid , and and confer Sol , Soldo .] An old French copper coin, equivalent in value to, and now displaced by, the five-centime piece (&frac1x20; of a franc), which is popularly called a sou .

Souari nut Sou·a"ri nut` (Botany) The large edible nutlike seed of a tall tropical American tree ( Caryocar nuciferum ) of the same natural order with the tea plant; -- also called butternut . [ Written also sawarra nut .]

Soubah Sou"bah noun See Subah .

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