Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lots used in a kind of divination, consisting in the chance selection of a passage from an author's writings—a practice common in ancient times and in the middle ages.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun pl. of
sors .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
divination , or the seeking ofguidance , bychance selection of apassage in theBible or anothertext regarded asauthoritative .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Here remain still the ruins of the Temple of Fortune, famous for its oracles, called sortes prœnestinœ.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913
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So, rather than disappoint them, I resorted to a kind of sortes Virgillana; I shut my eyes, turned round thrice, and made a mark at hazard on the line of photographs.
Hawthorne and His Circle Julian Hawthorne 1890
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a book, an old fancy seized me to try the 'sortes' and dip into the first page of the first I chanced upon, for my fortune; I said 'what will be the event of my love for Her' -- in so many words -- and my book turned out to be -- 'Cerutti's Italian Grammar!'
The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 Robert Browning 1850
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However that may be, yesterday morning as I turned to look for a book, an old fancy seized me to try the 'sortes' and dip into the first page of the first I chanced upon, for my fortune; I said 'what will be the event of my love for Her' ” in so many words ” and my book turned out to be ” 'Cerutti's Italian Grammar!' ” a propitious source of information
The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Browning, Robert, 1812-1889 1898
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C'est vraiment un beau pays, très hospitalier, où vous serez tentée de faire beaucoup d'achats!!! poteries, vêtements et objets de cuir, cuivres, tapis, souvenirs de toutes sortes, etc., etc ...
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He doesn't want to investigate the previous administration's torture record, much less its apparent formulation of foreign policy by means of the sortes biblicae.
Archive 2009-05-01 2009
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I was hardly the first person to have recourse to the sortes Virgilianae in time of confusion or trouble.
Sick Cycle Carousel 2010
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La montée des hiérarchies de statuts combinée avec la sexualité bourgeonnante met sans dessus dessous toutes sortes de relations.
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La Chapelle, Le Cuisinier moderne, qui apprend à donner toutes sortes de repas…Avec…des desseins de table…en taille-douce, 2nd ed., The Hague, 1742.
Delizia! John Dickie 2008
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Granlux était un personnage dégingandé qui essayait de livrer toutes sortes d'objets avec son triporteur.
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
Ah, Wordnik. I just got this as a "random word."
July 31, 2014
qms commented on the word sortes
Sortes is a good one! Do you suppose that someone who doesn't have a clue is "out of sortes?"
July 31, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
I'll check the next "random word" for the answer to that question. Hold on...
July 31, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
Ooooh. It gave me interdicts.
July 31, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
Then locution.
July 31, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
Then rustlings.
July 31, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word sortes
Then pedicabs (I think Wordnik is just playing with me now).
July 31, 2014