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sort (n.)

late 14c., "group of people, animals, etc.; kind or variety of person or animal," from Old French sorte "class, kind," from Latin sortem (nominative sors) "lot; fate, destiny; share, portion; rank, category; sex, class, oracular response, prophecy," from PIE root *ser- (2) "to line up."

The sense evolution in Vulgar Latin is from "what is allotted to one by fate," to "fortune, condition," to "rank, class, order." Later (mid-15c.) "group, class, or category of items; kind or variety of thing; pattern, design." Out of sorts "not in usual good condition" is attested from 1620s, with literal sense of "out of stock."

sort (v.)

mid-14c., "to arrange according to type or quality," from Old French sortir "allot, sort, assort," from Latin sortiri "draw lots, divide, choose," from sors (see sort (n.)). In some senses, the verb is a shortened form of assort.

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Definitions of sort from WordNet
1
sort (n.)
a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality;
Synonyms: kind / form / variety
sort (n.)
an approximate definition or example;
she served a creamy sort of dessert thing
she wore a sort of magenta dress
sort (n.)
a person of a particular character or nature;
what sort of person is he?
he's a good sort
sort (n.)
an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion;
the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting
Synonyms: sorting
2
sort (v.)
examine in order to test suitability;
Synonyms: screen / screen out / sieve
sort (v.)
arrange or order by classes or categories;
Synonyms: classify / class / assort / sort out / separate
From wordnet.princeton.edu