[mod. L., f. Gr. σωρός a heap.]
1. Bot. (See quot. 1831.)
1831. Lindley, Introd. Bot., I. ii. 180. Sorosis,… a spike or raceme converted into a fleshy fruit by the cohesion in a single mass of the ovaria and floral envelopes.
1845. Encycl. Metrop., VI. 122*/1. The fruit [sc. mulberry], called a sorosis by botanists, has a peculiar aromatic flavour.
1849. Balfour, Man. Bot., § 557. Other instances of a sorosis are the Bread-fruit and Jack-fruit.
2. U.S. A women’s society or club.
An arbitrary use of the botanical term, adopted as the name of the first club of the kind, founded in 1868.
1879. in Webster, Suppl.
