sorghum
(ˈsɔːgəm)
Also 8 sorgum.
[mod.L., f. It. sorgo: see prec.]
1. a. The cereal plant known as Indian millet, Guinea-corn, durra, etc. (Andropogon sorghum, also called Holcus sorghum and Sorghum vulgare).
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. v. 7 At the top..groweth a tuft or eare..like Sorghum. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 147 We had little other bread than what was made of Sorghum. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Sorgum, a sort of Millet-grain. 1780 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) V. 3694/2 The most remarkable of the foreign species [of Holcus] is the sorghum, or Guinea-corn. 1866 Livingstone Last Jrnls. i. (1874) I. 17 Some sorghum, sem-sem seed, gum-copal, and orchilla weed, constitute the commerce of the port. 1879 Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. x. 193 Maize and sorghum, a fine tall cereal, which in the distance looks very like maize. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Rec. Ser. ii. 11/1 Rice, maize, wheat, sorghum, and rye are most largely used [for obtaining grain alcohol]. |
b. The Chinese sugar-cane (Andropogon saccharatus, also called Holcus saccharatus and Sorghum saccharatum). Usually sweet sorghum.
| 1859 All Year Round No. 32. 126 The extensive cultivation of the sorghum, or Chinese sugar-cane, would give a fortune to the cultivator. 1867 A. Gray Man. Bot. (1874) 652 The Sweet Sorghum, and other cultivated races. 1884 tr. De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 382 Sweet Sorghum..taller than the common sorghum and with a loose panicle. |
c. With distinctive names denoting other plants belonging to this genus (see quots.).
| 1860 Darlington's Amer. Weeds, etc. 411 Sorghum nutans,..Nodding Sorghum. Wood Grass. Ibid. 412 S. cernuum,..Drooping Sorghum. Guinea Corn. |
2. A genus or group of grasses belonging to the tribe Andropogoneæ and including the species mentioned above; also, with a and pl., a species or variety belonging to this genus.
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXII. 266 Sorghum, a genus of grasses... The species form tall grasses with succulent stems. 1884 tr. De Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 380 Botanists are not agreed as to the distinction of several of the species of sorghum. Ibid., A good monograph on the sorghums is needed. 1895–6 Cal. Univ. Nebraska 186 New crops, particularly forage crops, and the non-saccharine sorghums. |
3. U.S. A kind of molasses made from sorghum-juice.
| 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. Apr. 269/1 Maple-sugar and sorghum are unequal to the demand. 1892 Atlantic Monthly May 664/2 Jars of lard and jugs of the inevitable ‘sorghum’ (home-made molasses) were securely tied up and buried in the woods. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as sorghum-crop, sorghum-head, sorghum-seed, sorghum sugar, etc.
Also sorghum-pulling, sorghum-tugging (De Vere Americanisms 287), sorghum-evaporator, sorghum-knife, sorghum-mill, sorghum-stripper (Knight Dict. Mech. 2246), sorghum-blight, sorghum-midge, sorghum-smut, etc.
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Juncus, The sharp or pointed Rush, with sorghum heads. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 443/2 The necessities of the sorghum culture in the United States. 1883 Times 30 May 13 A sorghum crop..which yielded over 2,200 gallons. 1883 Science I. 234/1 Others bearing, in all but size, a most striking resemblance to sorghum-seed. 1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 628/1 The cultivation of sorghum sugar. |
b. In the sense ‘made of or obtained from sorghum’, as sorghum beer, sorghum flour, sorghum molasses, sorghum syrup.
| 1864 T. D. Wells Our Burden 38 Sorghum molasses, which was not known to this country in 1850. 1865 Home News 19 Dec. 5/1 A sample of sorghum flour made of Chinese cane. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 401 Strong vinegar can be made from sorghum sirup. |