sandman
/ˈsænd.mæn/ noun, proper noun
Forms sandmen Sandmans
- noun (folklore) A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes.
- noun Used as a symbol of the passage of time toward death.
- noun (obsolete) A seller of sand.
- proper noun A surname.
Etymology
From sand + -man. The mythological sense may be from German Sandmann, Sandmännchen, as it is apparently first attested in English in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). The German is attested in the relevant sense since at least the mid-18th century.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sandman”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details