Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to tease, to ‘pull someone’s leg’.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1115/2: C.20.

2. (orig. Aus.) to deal with, esp. violently.

1937		A. McLean Vive la Legion 52: ‘We might as well be criminals for the way we are being treated. Policemen at every station to sort us out’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 69: Sort someone out, to, to reprove a person, put him in his place.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 215: I hope the Spades sort him out.
1961		(con. 1920s) J. Sparks Burglar to the Nobility 87: Had he declined to meet the obligation [i.e. an unpaid debt] I would necessarily have had to sort him out, for [...] a man cannot permit a liberty to be glossed over.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 65: Like chuckin’ off at Jesus, y’see? But He sorted them out; very smartly.
1970		D. Jenkins Saturday’s America 233: ‘I see big Jock down there on all fours waiting to meet the Tulane charge and, heh, heh, sort out another ball carrier’.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 114: He said to tell you he’s going to sort you out.
1980		T. Lewis GBH 117: ‘I pay you to come and tell me what you’ve sorted, after you’ve sorted it’.
1982		G. Newbold Big Huey 121: Watch for, and sort out, those who are trying to lose you your hard-won privileges.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 85: ‘Sort him out, Jon,’ said Reggie.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] [T]he biffo went in and each team tried to sort the other one out and separate the men from the boys.
1998		P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto 21: No doubt your Provisional IRA friends will be around to sort me out!
2000		Indep. 25 Jan. 1: If you don’t back off, one of the McGowans will be sorted out.
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 136: Reckon that might be payment, sort out the geezer like.
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] [He] had seen smartarse street gangs strutting around [...] causing trouble, and they always felt like sorting a few of them out.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘Did he ever try it on with you? Or with Allen?’ [...] ‘Me? Of course not. I’m not a fucking kid. He wouldn’t have dared. We’d have sorted him out’.

3. (UK prison) of a warder, to harass an inmate; thus sorting out n.

1954

J. Phelan Tramp at Anchor 93: ‘Sorting out’ [...] meant that a warder picked a man for some reason or unreason, and pursued him unscrupulously and inexorably, reporting him for extra punishment on every possible occasion.

4. (UK Und.) to provide with information.

1955

B. Hill Boss of Britain’s Underworld 32: Respectable bank clerks used to edge up alongside me in pubs hoping to cop a fiver for information about money [...] Employees responsible for this money used to sort me out.

5. to arrange, to organize.

1977		G.F. Newman A Prisoner’s Tale 54: ‘Steve said he would make one.’ [...] ‘How come you sorted me out?’.
1998		Neil Palmer ‘Vegan Reich’ (in Home Suspect Device ) 8: He’d be up early attending to anything that needed sorting.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 99: Angel barman sorted it, sed ee ad seen us in is fuckin pub all night.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 405: ‘Can you sort us out a can [of beer]?’.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 321: ‘How “sort it”, boy? What’s that mean?’ ‘It means I’m going to fucking sort it, Dad’.

6. to provide someone with drugs.

1995		H. Kureishi Black Album 52: ‘I used to sort rocks, crack, you know, for Trevor’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 10: I started to tell this crowd [...] that in future I would only sort them out if the order was anything over a quarter of an ounce.
2000		J. Hawes Dead Long Enough 150: The guy in the bandana asked if anyone needed sorting.
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 36: Gies every cunt two numbers: one if yir clean [...] the other yin if ye need sorted out.

7. to pay one’s debts to someone.

1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 60: You know I’ll sor’ ya after today.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 262: Can yer lay us on another rock like? Al sort yer next week.

8. to provide with sexual pleasure or satisfaction.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 61: No way in the world is he sorting Nina. Someone must be. You couldn’t see a dame like her going without.

9. to enjoy a drug.

2013

K. Sampson Killing Pool 72: I’ve lit the candles and got the Nocturne on low and mellow, ready to sort myself big time.