sorghumn.
/ˈsɔːɡəm/, U.S. /ˈsɔrɡəm/ 1.
a. The cereal plant known as Indian millet, Guinea-corn, durra, etc. ( Andropogon sorghum, also called Holcus sorghum and Sorghum vulgare).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > cereal, corn, or grain > [noun] > millet > Indian millet > Indian millet plant or panicle
millc1450
millet1548
Saracen's corn1585
sorghum1597
Guinea corn1697
whisk1757
broom-straw1785
kaffir corn1785
jowari1800
jowar1801
chicken corna1817
broom corn1819
mabela1824
cholum1858
Texas millet1858
dura1882
pearl millet1887
kaoliang1904
proso1907
milo1920
1597 J. Gerard Herball i. 6 At the top..groweth a tuft or eare..like Sorghum.
1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 147 We had little other bread than what was made of Sorghum.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Sorgum, a sort of Millet-grain.
1780 Encycl. Brit. V. 3694/2 The most remarkable of the foreign species [of Holcus] is the sorghum, or Guinea-corn.
1866 D. Livingstone 6 Apr. in Last Jrnls. (1874) I. i. 17 Some sorghum, sem-sem seed, gum-copal, and orchilla weed, constitute the commerce of the port.
1879 J. Lubbock Addresses, Polit. & Educ. x. 193 Maize and sorghum, a fine tall cereal, which in the distance looks very like maize.
1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts 2nd Ser. 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.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > plants yielding sugar or syrup > [noun] > sugar-cane
reeda1398
canamell?a1425
sugar cane1568
sugar1593
sugar-reed1718
plant cane1721
sorgho1760
cane1781
ribbon cane1803
riband cane1811
imphee1857
sweet sorghum1859
sweet sorgho1861
sugar-grass1862
plant1866
broom corn1886
1859 All Year Round 3 Dec. 126 The extensive cultivation of the sorghum, or Chinese sugar-cane, would give a fortune to the cultivator.
1867 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (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.).
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1859 W. Darlington & G. Thurber Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants 412 S. cernuum,..Drooping Sorghum. Guinea Corn.
1859 W. Darlington & G. Thurber Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants 411 Sorghum nutans,..Nodding Sorghum. Wood Grass.
2. A genus or group of grasses belonging to the tribe Andropogoneæ and including the species mentioned above; also, with a and plural, a species or variety belonging to this genus.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > sorghum grasses
sorghum1842
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.
1884 tr. de Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Pl. 380 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.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > sweetener > syrup > [noun] > in sugar manufacture > molasses > type of
sugar-house molasses1848
blackstrap1873
black stripe1880
sorghum1883
1883 Chambers's 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.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations, 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 (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. 2246), sorghum-blight, sorghum-midge, sorghum-smut, etc.
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1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Juncus The sharp or pointed Rush, with sorghum heads.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 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 1 234/1 Others bearing, in all but size, a most striking resemblance to sorghum-seed.
1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 628/1 The cultivation of sorghum sugar.
C2. In the sense ‘made of or obtained from sorghum’, as sorghum beer, sorghum flour, sorghum molasses, sorghum syrup.
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the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > [adjective] > millet
sorghum1864
the world > food and drink > food > additive > sweetener > [adjective] > of cane sugar
sorghum1864
1864 D. A. Wells Our Burden & Strength 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.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 401 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV Strong vinegar can be made from sorghum sirup.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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