sorrow 
Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar 
Their sacred everlasting calm ! 
Tennyson, Lucretius. 
4 The devil: used generally as an expletive 
in imprecation, often implying negation. Com- 
pare devil, n., 7. Sometimes the mitcKle sorrow. 
Also spelled sortu. [Scotch and Irish.] 
Quheu he had jumlit a full lang houre, 
The orrim' crap of butter he gatt. 
W, L f of AucMirmvMu (Child's Ballads, VIII. 119). 
Hiirnnr tak' him that's sae mean. 
Burns, O Tibbie, I ha'e seen the Day. 
To sing sorrow. See ting. = Sjm. 1. Grief, Wretchedness, 
etc. (see affliction), repentance, vexation, chagrin. See 
list under xadness. 
sorrow (sor'6), r. [< ME. sorowcn, soreweii, 
sorwen, sorwien, seoruwen, sorgien, sorlicn, < As. 
sorgian = OS. sorgon = MD. sorgen, D.zorgm 
= MLG. LG. sorgen = OHG. sorgen, MHCr. tr. 
sorgen = Icel. sorga, syrgja = Sw. sorja = Dan. 
sorge = Goth, saurgan, sorrow ; from the noun.] 
1. intraiis. 1. To 'feel sorrow, sadness, regret, 
grief, or anguish ; grieve ; be sad ; feel sorry. 
Al mi lif ic sorwe & care, 
For det comit sone that noman wil spare. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 239. 
Uour thinges . . . nuiwen makien him to seoruwen, and 
bittren his heorte. Ancren Riwle, p. 308. 
Fortune had left to both of us alike 
What to delight in, what to sorrow for. 
Shak., C. of E., i. 1. 107. 
2. To manifest sorrow ; mourn ; lament. 
The emperoor thet the blysse of the wordle hedden 
zomtyme nou ine helle wepeth and grede.th, yelleth and 
xrrgeth. Ayenb&e of Inwyt (E. E. T. .), p. 71. 
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good ; 
Only give order for my funeral. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 5. 111. 
= Syn. To grieve, mourn. See sorrow, n. 
Il.t trans. 1. To feel or display sorrow over ; 
grieve for; mourn. 
Such of these greefs as might be refrained or holpen by 
wisedome, and the parties owne good endeuour, the Poet 
gaue none order to sorrow them. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 38. 
The public body 
. . . send forth us, to make their sorrow'd render. 
Shah., T. of A., v. 1. 152. 
2. To give pain to; grieve. 
The excesse you bled is griefe vnto me ; the ague that 
held you styrroweth me. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 189. 
3. To involve in sorrow; attach suffering or 
misery to. 
The much-wronged and over- sorrowed state of matri- 
mony. Milton, Divorce, Pref. 
sorrower (sor'o-er), it. [< sorrow + -er 1 .] One 
who sorrows; one who grieves or mourns. 
sorrowful (sor'o-ful), . [< ME. sorowful, sor- 
weful, sornfid, sorfiil, seoruhful. sorhful, < AS. 
sorgful, sorhful (= OHG. sorgfol, sicorgfol, sworc- 
fol = Icel. s'orgfiillr = Sw. sorgfull = Dan. sorg- 
fuld), < sorh, sorrow, + fill, full: see sorrow and 
-/'<(.] 1. Feeling sorrow or grief ; grieved ; un- 
happy; sad. 
Than thei smyte vpon the saisnes that be soroicfull and 
wroth for the deth of Pignores. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 589. 
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. 
Mat. xxvi. 38. 
2. Productive of sorrow; grievous; distressing; 
lamentable ; pitiable. 
It was a sorful sijt to se how it ferde. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3540. 
Oh sorrowful and sad ! the streaming tears 
Channel her cheeks. Camper, Truth, 1. 173. 
3. Expressive or indicative of sorrow, grief, or 
regret ; plaintive ; pathetic. 
I called to ininde that, twelue or thirtene yeares past, 
I had begonne an Elegye or torrowefull song, called! the 
Complainte of Phylomene. 
Gascoigne, Philomene, Ded. (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber). 
most false love ! 
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill 
With sorrowful water? Shall., A. and C., i. 3. 64. 
4. Affected or accompanied by grief; melan- 
choly; doleful; afflicted. 
The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sor- 
rowful meat. job vi. 7. 
Go into old Titus' sorrowful house, 
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor. 
Shalt., Tit. And., v. 3. 142. 
=Syn. Dismal, disconsolate, rueful, woful. 
sorrowfully (sor'o-ful-i), adv. [< ME. sorwe- 
fullij, sforulifullice; < sorrowful + -fi/?.] In a 
sorrowful manner; with sorrow. 
sorrowfulness (sor'6-ful-nes), . [< ME. *sor- 
teef nines, < AS. sorgfulnes, < sorgful, sorrowful- 
see sorrowful and -ness.] The state of being 
sorrowful; the feeling of sorrow; grief; sad- 
ness. 
5778 
SOrrowleSS (sor'o-les), a. [< sorroir + -less.] 
Free from sorrow. 
sorrow-Stricken (sor'6-strik"n), . Stricken 
with sorrow; pained; grieved; sorrowful. 
SOITOWyt (sor'6-i), . [ME. sorewy; < sorrow + 
-i/ 1 .] Sorrowful. 
And I shal besette aboute Ariel, and it shal be dreri and 
sorewy. Vydif, Isa. xxii. 2. 
sorry (sor'i), a. [Early mod. E. eorrie, sorie 
(sometimes, erroneously, sorowe) ; < ME. sory, 
sori, sari, < AS. sdrig, sad, sorry (not found in 
physical sense 'sore') (= OS. serag = MD. 
seerigh, sore, sad, sorry, D. zeerig, sore, full of 
sores, = MLG. serich, sore, = OHG. serag, 
MHG. serec, serig = Sw. s&rig, sore, full of 
sores), < sar, pain, grief, sore : see sorel. The 
word is thus < sorel + -f/ 1 . It has become con- 
fused with sorrow, of which it is now the cus- 
tomary adj. in the lighter uses: see sorrow;.] 1. 
Feeling sorrow ; grieved; sorrowful; unhappy; 
sad; pained; especially, feeling repentance or 
regret : noting either deep or slight, prolonged 
or transient, emotion. 
Sike with the sory, singe with the glade. 
Piers Plowman (A), xi. 190. 
The preacher absolved but such as were sorry and did 
repent. Latimar, 3d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549. 
I am sorry for thee, friend ; 'tis the duke's pleasure. 
Shalt., Lear, ii. 2. 159. 
2. Causing sorrow ; painful ; grievous ; mourn- 
ful. 
So throll a sori thoujt thirled min hert. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 3696. 
In sorowe tyrne for them all 
The knyght came to the gate. 
Ltitell Oeste of Robyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 61). 
Gruffly he answers, " 'Tis a sorry sight ! 
A seaman's body : there'll be more to-night ! " 
Crabbe, Works, II. 12. 
3. Associated with sorrow ; suggestive of grief 
or suffering; melancholy; dismal. 
Al fill of chirkyng was that sory place. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. U4ti. 
The place of death and sorry execution. 
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 121. 
4. Vile; wretched; worthless; mean; paltry; 
poor. 
Tho sori wrecches of yuel blod. 
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1074. 
Notwithstanding his fine tongue, he is but a sorry fel- 
low. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 145. 
He had set our men upon an island, In a deep snow, 
without fire, and only a sorry wigwam for their shelter. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 267. 
Sony gracet, ill luck ; misfortune. 
He hadde at Thebes sory grace. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 746. 
= Syn. 1. Vexed, chagrined. 1 Pitiful, shabby, 
sorryt (sor'i), . . [< sorry, a.; or a var. of 
sorrow.'] To sorrow ; grieve. 
We mourn his death, and sorry for his sake. 
Ford, Fame's Memorial. 
sors (sorz), H. The singular of sortes. 
sort (sort), H. [< ME. sort, soort, sorte (= D. 
soort = G. sorte (< It.) = Sw. Dan. sort, sort, 
kind); < OF. sorte, sort, F. sorte = Sp. stierte = 
Pg. sorte = It. sorte, sorta, lot, part, sort, kind, 
< L. sor(t-)s, f., lot, destiny, an oracular re- 
sponse, in gen. fate, condition, part; prob. al- 
lied to serere, connect : see series. Hence ult. 
sort, r., sortance, sorcer, sorcerer, sorcery, assort, 
consort, resort 1 , etc.] If. A lot; that which is 
awarded or determined by lot; hence, in gen- 
eral, one's fate, fortune, or destiny. 
Sone haf thay her sortes sette & serelych deled, 
& ay the the lote, vpon laste, lymped on lonas. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iiL 194. 
And the sort of synne fallith vp on him that is with 
oute rijt-wisuesse or mercy. 
Gesta, Romanorum (ed. Heritage), p. 36. 
Make a lottery ; 
And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw 
The sort to fight with Hector. 
Shak., T. and C., i. 8. 376. 
2t. Allotted station or position; condition; 
rank; specifically, high rank ; social eminence. 
God save ye ! 
For less I cannot wish to men of sort, 
And ofyour seeming ; are you of the duke's? 
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, iv. 4. 
The building was a spacious theatre, . . . 
With seats where all the lords, and each degree 
Of sort, might sit in order to behold. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 1608. 
3. Characteristic mode of being ; nature; qual- 
ity; character. 
The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is 
1 Cor. iii. 13. 
None of noble sort 
Would so offend a virgin. 
Shale., M. N. D., Iii. 2. 159. 
sort 
Italy in the Renaissance period was rich in natures of this 
sort to whom nothing that is strange or beautiful seemed 
unfamiliar. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 241. 
4. A number of persons, things, ideas, etc.. 
grouped together according to the possession 
of common attributes; a kind, as determined 
by nature, quality, character, or habits ; a spe- 
cies; a class. 
He ... gadered hym a meynee of his sort, 
To lionne and synge and maken swich disport. 
Chaucer, Cook's Tale, 1. 17. 
A man feels the calamities of his enemies with one sort 
of sensibility, and his own with quite a different sort. 
ilacaulay, Sir J. Mackintosh. 
A sort is composed of things assorted, and assorted be- 
cause possessing a quality or qualities in common, and 
must embrace all the objects possessing the quality or 
qualities. McCosh, On Berkeley, p. 59. 
It 's the sort of thing people talk of, but I never thought 
it would come in our way. 
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxxiv. 
Specifically - (a) A particular class or order of people. 
The meaner sort are too credulous, and led with blinde 
zeale, blinde obedience, to prosecute and maintain what- 
soever their sottish leaders shall propose. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., ill. f 4. 
Others lay about the lawns, 
Of the older sort, and murmur'd that their May 
Was passing. Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
(o) In printing, one of the characters or pieces in a font of 
type, considered with reference to its relative supply or 
lack : nearly always in the plural : as, to be out of sorts 
(that is, to lack some of the necessary types in a case) ; to 
order sorts for a font (that is, to order more of the kinds 
of type of which it is deficient). 
Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no 
letter-foundry in America. 
B. Franklin, Autobiography, p. 91. 
(c) Kind : used indettnitely of something more or less re- 
sembling the thing specified : with of, like kind of. See 
I, ni</'-'. n., 5, and compare ort of, below. 
Those trees of Madreporse, a sort of imperfect coral, 
which are about Tor and south of it, are as dangerous as 
rocks to the ships. Pococke, Description of the East, 1. 186. 
Accredited agents were stationed, as a sort of honorable 
pies, at the different courts. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa. , ii. 1. 
Each tablet becoming even to the uninitiated white 
man a sort of coat-of-arms or symbolic shield, the native 
heraldry having embodied itself in this way. 
Ainer. Antiquarian, XII. 357. 
5. A number or quantity of things of the same 
kind or used together; a set; a suit. 
Sort of Balances (among Tradesmen) is four Dozen in 
Number. Bailey, 1731. 
6. A group; a flock; a troop; a company. 
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.] 
Eftaoones the people all to harnesse ran, 
And like a sort of Bees in clusters swarmed. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 86. 
King Agesilaus, hauing a great sort of little children, 
was one day disposed to solace himself among them in a 
gallery. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 234. 
A sort of Doves were housed too near their hall. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iiL 946. 
7. Particular mode of action or procedure ; 
manner; fashion; way. 
Now to Returne where I left off, and declare vnto you 
in what sort I imploide my selfe since my first entring 
into euglaude. E. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 34. 
Give your petitions 
In seemly sort, and keep your hate off decently. 
Fletcher (and another 1 ?), Prophetess, Hi. 1. 
In smoothest terms his speech he wove, 
Of endless friendship, faith, and love ; 
Promised and vowed in courteous sort. 
Scott, Rokeby, i. 20. 
After a sort. Same as i a sort. 
He has a kind o' Hieland honesty he's honest after a 
sort, as they say. Scott, Rob Boy, xxvi. 
In a sort, after a fashion : more or less completely or 
satisfactorily. 
The duke's journey to France is laid down; and yet 
they say the business goeth on in a sort. 
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 6. 
Outofsorts. (at) Destitute ; unprovided; without equip- 
ment. 
Many a man of good extraction coming home from far 
voyages, may chance to land here, and, being out of sorts, 
is unable for the present time and place to recruit him- 
self with clothes. Ray, Proverbs (1678), p. 304. 
(o) Out of health or spirits ; out of the normal condition 
of body or mind ; cross. 
I was most violently out of sorts, and really had not spir- 
its to answer it. 
lime. D'ArMay, Diary, To Mr. Crisp, Jan., 1779. 
No wonder you are out of sorts, my little cousin. To be 
an inmate with such a guest may well startle an innocent 
young girl ! Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viii. 
(c) In printing, short of one or more characters in type : 
said of a compositor, or of his case. Sort of. Same as 
kind of (which see, under kind", n.). 
"You were hurt by the betting Just now?" "Well," 
replied the lad, "I am sort o' hurt." 
Thackeray, Virginians, xv. 
To run on sorts. See rul, v. t. 
[Sort, like kind, is often erroneously used in the singular 
form with a plural force and connection. Compare kind*. 
These sort of people always know everything. 
A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, xlvi.) 
