character
n
1 the combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing
2 one such distinguishing quality; characteristic
3 moral force; integrity
a man of character
a reputation, esp. a good reputation
b (as modifier)
character assassination
5 a summary or account of a person's qualities and achievements; testimonial
my last employer gave me a good character
6 capacity, position, or status
he spoke in the character of a friend rather than a father
7 a person represented in a play, film, story, etc.; role
8 an outstanding person
one of the great characters of the century
9 Informal an odd, eccentric, or unusual person
he's quite a character
10 an informal word for →
person
a shady character
11 a symbol used in a writing system, such as a letter of the alphabet
12 (Also called)
sort (Printing) any single letter, numeral, punctuation mark, or symbol cast as a type
13 (Computing) any letter, numeral, etc., which is a unit of information and can be represented uniquely by a binary pattern
14 a style of writing or printing
15 (Genetics) any structure, function, attribute, etc., in an organism that is determined by a gene or group of genes
16 a short prose sketch of a distinctive type of person, usually representing a vice or virtue
17 ♦
in (or out of) character typical (or not typical) of the apparent character of a person or thing
vb tr
18 to write, print, inscribe, or engrave
19 Rare to portray or represent (C14: from Latin: distinguishing mark, from Greek kharakter engraver's tool, from kharassein to engrave, stamp) ♦
characterful adj ♦
characterless adj
good sort
n
Informal
1 a person of a kindly and likable disposition
2 (Austral) an agreeable or attractive woman
Q-sort
n a psychological test requiring subjects to sort items relative to one another along a dimension such as ``agree''/``disagree'' for analysis by Q-methodological statistics
re-sort
vb tr to sort again
sort
n
1 a class, group, kind, etc., as distinguished by some common quality or characteristic
2 Informal type of character, nature, etc.
he's a good sort
3 a more or less definable or adequate example
it's a sort of review
4 often pl (Printing) any of the individual characters making up a fount of type
5 Archaic manner; way
in this sort we struggled home
6 ♦
after a sort to some extent
7 ♦
of sorts or of a sort
8 ♦
out of sorts not in normal good health, temper, etc.
9 ♦
sort of in some way or other; as it were; rather
vb
10 tr to arrange according to class, type, etc.
11 tr to put (something) into working order
12 tr to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user
13 tr; foll by: with
Informal to supply, esp. with drugs
14 intr; foll by: with, together, etc.
Archaic or dialect to associate, as on friendly terms
15 intr
Archaic to agree; accord
(C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin sors kind, from Latin: fate)
♦
sortable adj
♦
sortably adv
♦
sorter n
See at kind2
sort out
vb tr, adv
1 to find a solution to (a problem, etc.), esp. to make clear or tidy
it took a long time to sort out the mess
2 to take or separate, as from a larger group
he sorted out the most likely ones
3 to organize into an orderly and disciplined group
4 Informal to beat or punish
special sort
n (Printing) a character, such as an accented letter, that is not a usual member of any fount, (Also called)
peculiar, arbitrary