▪ I. sorb, n.1
(sɔːb)
[a. F. sorbe, or ad. L. sorbum service-berry, sorbus service-tree. Cf. serve n.1 So Du. and Flem. sorbe, obs. G. sorbe, sorb.]
1. The fruit of the service-tree (Pyrus domestica); a service-berry.
| 1530 Palsgr. 272/2 Sorbe, a kynde of frute, sorbe. 1555 Eden Decades ii. i. (Arb.) 110 A certeyne sweetnes myxt with a gentell sharpnes as haue the frutes cauled Sorbes. 1658 Phillips, Sorb, a kinde of fruit, called a Service. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 305 Several other kinds of fruits, such as sorbs, medlars, and mulberries. 1889 Edin. Rev. Apr. 472 Her native fruits were merely nuts and poor berries, masts, sorbs, and crabs. |
2. a. The service-tree (Pyrus domestica).
| 1555 Eden Decades ii. i. (Arb.) 110 note, Sorbes are cauled in french cormier; they grow not in Englande. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 357 The Quick Beam or wild Sorb, by some called the Irish Ash. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 460 True Service, or Sorb. 1845 Browning Englishman in Italy 138 [To] strip from the sorbs A treasure so rosy and wondrous, Of hairy gold orbs! |
b. = service n. 3, service-tree 2.
| 1777 Jacob Cat. Plants 69 Cratægus torminalis, the common or wild Service-tree, or Sorb. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 458 Wild Service-tree, or Sorb. |
c. The rowan-tree; = service-tree 3.
| 1796 W. H. Marshall W. England II. 30 The Birch, the Mountain Sorb, and the Larch, if judiciously propagated, would flourish..on the bleakest exposures. 1799 W. Nicol Pract. Planter 18 The Mountain Ash, or Sorb, would exuberate here, and assist in nursing the Oak [etc.]. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as sorb-leaved adj., sorb-tree.
| 1548 Turner Names Herbes 75 Thys tree maye be called in englishe a sorb tree; and the fruite a sorb Appel. 1789 J. Pilkington View Derbysh. I. 405 Sorbus domestica. True Service, or Sorb-tree. 1845 Florist Jrnl. 156 The sorb-leaved spirea is well known as an inhabitant of shrubberies. 1849 J. A. Carlyle tr. Dante's Inf. xv, Amongst the tart sorb-trees, it befits not the sweet fig to fructify. |
▪ II. sorb, v. Physical Chem.
(sɔːb)
[Back-formation from sorption, after absorb, absorption.]
a. trans. To collect by sorption. Also absol.
| 1909 J. W. McBain in Phil. Mag. XVIII. 918 An idea of the quality of the carbon employed may be obtained from the amount of gas sorbed by it in actual experiment. 1938 Proc. R. Soc. A. CLXVII. 407 The two zeolites in the form of three-dimensional networks sorb ammonia copiously without ammoniate formation. 1954 Alexander & Hudson Wool viii. 261 When wool is immersed in hydrogen peroxide, some is initially sorbed by the amino and imino groups without reaction. 1970 New Scientist 2 July 9/3 Papers with inked designs sorb best on the inked areas. 1972 Physics Bull. Oct. 583/1 This has the advantage that exhausted water vapour is not sorbed by the trap on the fine side of the pump. |
b. intr. for pass.
| 1970 New Scientist 2 July 9/3 The SO2 sorbs strongly to these sweat patches. |
Hence sorbed, ˈsorbing ppl. adjs.; also ˈsorbate2 [after distillate, filtrate, etc.], that which is sorbed.
| 1909 Phil. Mag. XVIII. 923 The total amount of sorbed gas is 67·70 c.c. 1921 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. CXIX. 454 Experimental results have always been obtained by shaking a certain volume of a solution of known strength with a known amount of sorbing material such as charcoal, and analysing a sample of the remaining solution. 1928 Phil. Mag. V. 749 A revised conception of the mutual relations of sorbent and sorbate in cases where the ‘power’ time-equation holds. 1946 Nature 5 Oct. 475/1 Compact, non⁓porous sorbing media such as wool. 1949 Discussions Faraday Soc. VII. 136 Gmelinite and chabazite occlude a still greater variety of sorbates. 1975 Nature 28 Aug. 719/1 The Mg ion of dehydrated offretite should have a strong electrostatic field around it, and sorbed molecules should be strongly attracted to form a complex. |