sorghum

[sawr-guh m]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sorghum ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a cereal grass, Sorghum bicolor (or S. vulgare), having broad, cornlike leaves and a tall, pithy stem bearing the grain in a dense terminal cluster.

the syrup made from sorgo.

Origin of sorghum

1590–1600; < New Latin < Italian sorgo (see sorgo)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sorghum

molasses, treacle, glucose, sorghum

Examples from the Web for sorghum

Contemporary Examples of sorghum

Whiskey and vodka are also loosely classified as such, but the base of baijiu is sorghum.
The Most Powerful Liquor in the World
Kayleigh Kulp
August 24, 2014
Sorghum requires less water than corn but yields about the same amount of ethanol per bushel.
Democrats and Republicans Support Harmful Ethanol Subsidies for the Sake of Votes
Robert Bryce
September 5, 2012
The agency is expected to approve the use of sorghum for ethanol production.
Democrats and Republicans Support Harmful Ethanol Subsidies for the Sake of Votes
Robert Bryce
September 5, 2012
Sorghum syrup is actually a juice extract collected from a tall grass called sweet sorghum.
Pancakes' New Topper
Stacey Slate
December 8, 2009
Sorghum juice can be extracted for fermentation and distillation without damaging the grain at the top of the stalk.
Pancakes' New Topper
Stacey Slate
December 8, 2009

Historical Examples of sorghum

“Hit's the fourth time since sorghum time,” the boy went on relentlessly.
In Happy Valley
John Fox
That was where he raised most of his corn and shoats, and lots of sorghum cane.
Slave Narratives, Oklahoma
Various
The family had been living on corncakes and sorghum molasses for three days.
My Antonia
Willa Cather
Between the rows of fruit trees are vegetables or corn or sorghum.
The Critic in the Orient
George Hamlin Fitch
"I think we will locate them in the sorghum patch," said the Major.
Shawn of Skarrow
James Tandy Ellis

British Dictionary definitions for sorghum

sorghum

noun

any grass of the Old World genus Sorghum, having solid stems, large flower heads, and glossy seeds: cultivated for grain, hay, and as a source of syrupSee also durra

Word Origin for sorghum

C16: from New Latin, from Italian sorgo, probably from Vulgar Latin Syricum grānum (unattested) Syrian grain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sorghum

"Indian millet," 1590s, from Modern Latin Sorghum, the genus name, from Italian sorgo "a tall cereal grass," probably from Medieval Latin surgum, suricum (12c.), perhaps a variant of Latin syricum "Syrian," as in Syricum (gramen) "(grass) of Syria," from Syria, a possible source of the plant or its grain in ancient times.