Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a person, a type; usu. as bad sort, good sort; occas. as a term of address.

1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 467/2: He was not ‘a bad sort,’ and was very fond of his children.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1880		G.R. Sims Three Brass Balls 81: Mrs. Turvey wasn’t a bad sort.
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 1 Feb. 7/4: I know her; she’s a proper sort when she has any coin.
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 7 Dec. 7/1: ‘Well, old sort [...] I’ve won everything’.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 July 12/2: It now takes its three meals a day, and that it may long continue to do so is the sincere wish of yours truly, for the judge is really not half a bad sort.
1894		J. Astley Fifty Years (2nd edn) I 304: The late Lord Methuen (a rare sort).
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 213: You ain’t such a bad sort.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 26 Nov. 4/8: john Brown was a tough and a bluff old sort.
1905		Memoirs of a Voluptuary (1906) 22: We’ll have no end of fun when Blackie comes; he’s the most out-and-out sort you ever came across.
1912		Sport (Adelaide) 15 June 6/1: He’s not a bad little sort, and [...] we shall say ‘Good luck to him’ .
1914		Joyce ‘Ivy Day at the Committee Room’ Dubliners (1956) 126: ‘He’s not a bad sort,’ said Mr Henchy.
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 104: God bless you, old sort.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 27: It wasn’t long before I knew squads of the right sort.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 151: There was an urge inside him, but instead of it being fixed on a decent girl it was fixed on Meg Thompson’s sort.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 114: You see, he’s not a bad sort.
1959		B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green Act III: Wonderful. What a charming boy. He’s really turning out a decent sort.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 96: He had ‘a bit of a chat’ with her last week at the newsagent’s and she’s not ‘a bad sort’.
1999		Indep. Rev. 26 July 2: Poor old Dian Fossey was a decent sort.
2001		M. Coles Bible in Cockney 79: Tell your folks how much the Lord has done for you, and what a kind old sort he is.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 139: Nadine was, I remembered, a pretty good sort.

2. (orig. Aus.) a woman; very occas. applied also to men.

1914		Sport (Adelaide) 2 Oct. 5/6: N is for Nora M, who’s a giddy old sort.
1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 5: Whaddaya say to us gettin’ two other sorts instead? You seen that new blonde barmaid at the Royal?
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 106: The bombardier tells the sort to run.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 176: Look at that sort down the front there she ain’t ’arf got some top ’uns.
1960		J. Iggulden Storms of Summer 298: ‘Visitor!’ ‘Your sort come to see ya?’ asked Bluey enviously.
1969		I. Hebditch ‘Weekend’ unpub. thesis in Hewitt (2000) 133: ‘Who’s that salt [sic] over there then?’ Harry pipes up, ‘That’s Gammy Gilbert’s sister.’.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 7: She was a blonde sort, middle twenties.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘A Slow Bus to Chingford’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] We’re standing on the balcony in a penthouse suite with a couple of sorts.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 133: He seemed to know more good sorts than Hugh Hefner.
1999		Guardian Guide 15–21 May 25: The two dizzy sorts [...] twatting about.
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] Digger wasn’t the only good sort in the place.
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] Smoking two grouse hash joints with a good little sort.
2015		N. Cummins Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] ‘Mate, send up every good sort in the line outside for the backs. And the rest for the forwards’.
2019		Times Times2 3 June 3/1: Love Island: a handy glossary Peng sort A very good-looking person.
2020		G. Disher Consolation 27: ‘How’s that gorgeous sort of yours?’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 311: ‘Bumped into these sorts [...] Took the skinny bints out for dinner’.