sand

[sand]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sand ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

sleeper(def 10).

verb (used with object)

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.

Idioms

draw a line in the sand, to set a limit; allow to go up to a point but no further.

Origin of sand

before 900; Middle English (noun), Old English; cognate with German Sand, Old Norse sandr

Related formssand·a·ble, adjectivesand·less, adjectivesand·like, adjectiveun·sand·ed, adjectivewell-sand·ed, adjective

Can be confusedsand sediment silt

Sand

[sand; French sahnd]

noun

George

[jawrj; French zhawrzh] /dʒɔrdʒ; French ʒɔrʒ/Lucile Aurore Dupin Dudevant, 1804–76, French novelist.

sand.

sandwich.

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

Related Words for sand

beach, coast, seashore, border, bank, seaboard, waterfront, riverbank, beige, drab, khaki, brownish, tan, cream, taupe, camel, off-white, prowess, fearlessness, boldness

Examples from the Web for sand

Contemporary Examples of sand

There is only sand, a white ball, and a flag indicating the hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art
Alec Kubas-Meyer
January 2, 2015
When the game starts, there is only sand, a white ball, a flag indicating hole 1, and a “0” at the top of the screen.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art
Alec Kubas-Meyer
January 2, 2015
And there, the sand castle builder and tag player who loved her aunt more than science would be buried.
11 Children Shot in Milwaukee, One in Her Grandpa's Lap
Michael Daly
November 12, 2014
To see how a global ocean could affect libration, take two bottles, fill one with sand and the other with water, then spin them.
Saturn’s Death Star Look-Alike
Matthew R. Francis
October 19, 2014
The book is the line in the sand, proof that she is not, as she is so often conflated, the Hannah Horvath she has created.
Speed Read: Lena Dunham’s Most Shocking Confessions From ‘Not That Kind of Girl’
Kevin Fallon
September 26, 2014

Historical Examples of sand

The sides of this hill he covered with a layer of bricks that the sand might not be blown away.
Ancient Man
Hendrik Willem van Loon
We could not find any of his camps, however; doubtless the sand has long since covered them.
Explorations in Australia
John Forrest
But it was not to be drifted up with the sand of forgetfulness!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
But they saw that the sea was for the swimmer, and the sand for the feet of the runner.
De Profundis
Oscar Wilde
Yates caught up a handful of sand, and flung it lightly against the pane.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr

British Dictionary definitions for sand

sand

noun

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

US informal courage; grit

draw a line in the sand to put a stop to or a limit on

the sands are running out there is not much time left before death or the end

verb

(tr) to smooth or polish the surface of with sandpaper or sandto sand a floor

(tr) to sprinkle or cover with or as if with sand; add sand to

to fill or cause to fill with sandthe channel sanded up

Derived Formssandlike, adjective

Word Origin for sand

Old English; related to Old Norse sandr, Old High German sant, Greek hamathos

Sand

noun

George (ʒɔrʒ), pen name of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin. 1804–76, French novelist, best known for such pastoral novels as La Mare au diable (1846) and François le Champi (1847–48) and for her works for women's rights to independence

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 sand

Old English sand, from Proto-Germanic *sandam (cf. Old Norse sandr, Old Frisian sond, Middle Dutch sant, Dutch zand, German Sand), from PIE *bhs-amadho- (cf. Greek psammos "sand;" Latin sabulum "coarse sand," source of Italian sabbia, French sable), suffixed form of root *bhes- "to rub."

Historically, the line between sand and gravel cannot be distinctly drawn. Used figuratively in Old English in reference to innumerability and instability. General Germanic, but not attested in Gothic, which used in this sense malma, related to Old High German melm "dust," the first element of the Swedish city name Malmö (the second element meaning "island"), and to Latin molere "to grind." Metaphoric for "innumerability" since Old English. Sand dollar, type of flat sea-urchin, so called from 1884, so called for its shape; sand dune attested from 1830.

late 14c., "to sprinkle with sand," from sand (n.); from 1620s as "to bury or fill in with sand." Meaning "to grind or polish with sand" is from 1858. Related: Sanded; sanding.

sand in Medicine

sand

[sănd]

n.

Small, loose grains of worn or disintegrated rock.

sand in Science

sand

[sănd]

A sedimentary material consisting of small, often rounded grains or particles of disintegrated rock, smaller than granules and larger than silt. The diameter of the particles ranges from 0.0625 to 2 mm. Although sand often consists of quartz, it can consist of any other mineral or rock fragment as well. Coral sand, for example, consists of limestone fragments.

Idioms and Phrases with sand

sand

see build on sand; hide one's head in the sand.