sand
/sænd/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms sands sanding sanded
- noun (uncountable) Rock that is ground more finely than gravel, but is not as fine as silt (more formally, see grain sizes chart), forming beaches and deserts and also used in construction.
- noun (countable) A specific grade, type, or composition of sand.
- noun (countable, often in the plural) A beach or other mass of sand. “The Canadian tar sands are a promising source of oil.”
- noun (uncountable, dated) Personal courage.
- noun (uncountable, geology) A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
- noun A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
- noun (countable, obsolete) A single grain of sand.
- noun (countable, figurative) A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).
- adjective Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.
- verb (transitive) To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.
- verb (transitive) To cover with sand.
- verb (transitive, historical) To blot ink using sand.
Synonyms
grit George Sand Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin Baroness Dudevant backbone guts moxie gumption sandpaper
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English sond, sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz.
See also North Frisian sun, Sön, sönj (“sand”), Saterland Frisian Sound (“sand”), West Frisian sân (“sand”), Dutch zand (“sand”), German and Luxembourgish Sand (“sand”), Yiddish זאַמד (zamd, “sand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish sand (“sand”), Faroese and Icelandic sandur (“sand”), Latin sabulum (“sand, gravel”), Ancient Greek ἄμαθος (ámathos, “sand”), English dialectal samel (“sand bottom”), Old Irish do·essim (“to pour out”), Latin sentina (“bilge water”), Lithuanian sémti (“to scoop”), Ancient Greek ἀμάω (amáō, “to gather”), ἄμη (ámē, “water bucket”).
From Middle English sanden, from the noun (see above).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Fine particles of stone, esp. of siliceous stone, but not reduced to dust; comminuted stone in the form of loose grains, which are not coherent when wet. That finer matter, called sand, is no other than very small pebbles.
- noun A single particle of such stone. [R.] Shak.
- verb To sprinkle or cover with sand.
- verb To drive upon the sand. [Obs.] Burton.
Etymology [AS. sand; akin to D. zand, G. sand, OHG. sant, Icel. sandr, Dan. & Sw. sand, Gr. 1. Fine particles of stone, esp. of siliceous stone, but not reduced to dust; comminuted stone in the form of loose grains, which are not coherent when wet. That finer matter, called sand, is no other than very small pebbles. Woodsward. 2. A single particle of such stone. [R.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sand”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details