sandpaper

[sand-pey-per]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sandpaper ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

strong paper coated with a layer of sand or other abrasive, used for smoothing or polishing.

verb (used with object)

to smooth or polish with or as if with sandpaper.

Origin of sandpaper

First recorded in 1815–25; sand + paper

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

Related Words for sandpaper

shine, rub, smooth, furbish, gloss, glaze, burnish, brush, scour, pumice

Examples from the Web for sandpaper

Contemporary Examples of sandpaper

Laying on a shark is just crazy, their skin is like sandpaper.
Off the Hook: Eric Young’s Craziest Shark Catches (Video)
Anna Klassen
August 5, 2013

Historical Examples of sandpaper

The sandpaper must be applied unsparingly and always with the grain.
Boys' Book of Model Boats
Raymond Francis Yates
You were just rubbing the sandpaper and the cloth together and singing.
Shavings
Joseph C. Lincoln
He could hear a faint rasping like the rustle of sandpaper, as they did so.
The Planetoid of Peril
Paul Ernst
Move the third brush only 1/16 inch and then sandpaper the brush seat with 00 sandpaper.
The Automobile Storage Battery
O. A. Witte
His throat was like sandpaper and the words came out in a rasp.
The Dark Door
Alan Edward Nourse

British Dictionary definitions for sandpaper

sandpaper

noun

(formerly) a strong paper coated with sand for smoothing and polishing

a common name for glasspaper

verb

(tr) to polish or grind (a surface) with or as if with sandpaper

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 sandpaper

also sand-paper, 1788, from sand (n.) + paper (n.).

1835, from sandpaper (n.). Related: Sandpapered; sandpapering.