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, Herball, I. v. 6. At the top whereof 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. trans. 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. trans. 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., April, 269/1. Maple-sugar and sorghum are unequal to the demand.
1892. D. Dodge, in 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 or ‘old fields.’
4. attrib. and Comb., as sorghum-crop, -head, -seed, sugar, etc.
Also sorghum-pulling, -tugging (De Vere, Americanisms, 287), sorghum-evaporator, -knife, -mill, -stripper (Knight, Dict. Mech., 2246), sorghum-blight, -midge, -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, 13/6. 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, flour, molasses, syrup.
1864. D. A. Wells, Our Burden & Strength, 38, note. Of sorghum molasses, which was not known to this country in 1850, there was manufactured in 1860 over seven millions of gallons.
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.
