the more or less fine debris of rocks, consisting of small, loose grains, often of quartz.
Usually sands. a tract or region composed principally of sand.
the sand or a grain of sand in an hourglass.
sands, moments of time or of one's life.
At this stage of his career the sands are running out.
a light reddish- or brownish-yellow color.
Informal. courage; pluck.
to smooth or polish with sand, sandpaper, or some other abrasive.
to sand the ends of a board.
to sprinkle with or as if with sand.
to sand an icy road.
to fill up with sand, as a harbor.
to add sand to.
The mischievous child sanded the sugar.
loose material consisting of rock or mineral grains, esp rounded grains of quartz, between 0.05 and 2 mm in diameter
(often plural) a sandy area, esp on the seashore or in a desert
a greyish-yellow colour
( as adjective )
sand upholstery
the grains of sandlike material in an hourglass
informal courage; grit
to put a stop to or a limit on
there is not much time left before death or the end
(tr) to smooth or polish the surface of with sandpaper or sand
to sand a floor
(tr) to sprinkle or cover with or as if with sand; add sand to
to fill or cause to fill with sand
the channel sanded up
before 900; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with German Sand, Old Norse sandr
Sand is a substance that's made of tiny pieces of rock. The sand on some beaches is rough and pebbly, while other sand is smooth and soft. Either way, don't track it into the house. You can find sand on riverbanks, in flower beds, and in sandboxes, among many other places. Grains of sand are composed of rocks and coral that have been worn down over the years. As a verb, sand means "make smooth with sandpaper." There's also an old fashioned colloquial way to use this word, to mean "determination" or "grit." So you could say, "I'm impressed that she had the sand to travel in India by herself!"
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Satellite images show the line is now dotted with at least seven new outposts, each protected by sand berms.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
Kristen Adam’s softly textured watercolors convey the dreamy quality of days spent on a beach, fine-grained sand underfoot and crisp blue waves hissing against the shore.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
The teenager claimed that her boyfriend had gone up alone to the sand dune where the trio were, but Turley was not there initially.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
Critics on the Croisette are starting to resemble that classic comic-strip panel in which an explorer crawls desperately across the sand toward an oasis that’s only a mirage.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
They walked over soft, yielding white sand, which gave way to white pebbles and then to tall, silver-barked trees.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
