• (British) IPA: /sænd/
• (America) IPA: /sɛənd/

From Middle English sand, from Old English sand, from Proto-West Germanic *samd, from Proto-Germanic *samdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sámh₂dʰos, from *sem-.

See also Western Frisian sân, Dutch zand, German Sand, Danish -, Swedish - and Norwegian sand, Latin sabulum, Ancient Greek ἄμαθος, English - dialectal samel, Old Irish do·essim, Latin sentina, Lithuanian sémti, Ancient Greek ἀμάω, ἄμη.

sand (uncountable)

1. (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.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.

   1. (countable) A specific grade, type, or composition of sand.
   2. (countable, often in the plural) A beach or other mass of sand.

      The Canadian tar sands are a promising source of oil.

2. (uncountable, dated) Personal courage.

   Synonyms: grit

3. (uncountable, geology) A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
4. A light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

    

5. (countable, obsolete) A single grain of sand.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene v]:

     One sand another.
     Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad

6. (countable, figurative) A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass).
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:

     The sands are numbered that make up my life.

   • Cf. sands of time (idiom)
   • 1838 October, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life. […]”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1839, →OCLC ↗, stanza 7, page 7 ↗:

     […] And, departing, leave behind us / Footprints on the sands of time […]

7. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand).
   1. (uncountable, figurative) "sand in [someone's] eyes" (idiom):
      • Cf. Sandman, a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes.
   2. An excuse for tears.
      • Cf. “Sand in My Eyes ↗”, in TV Tropes, 2023 March 1 (last accessed): “Alternative Title(s): Something In My Eye”

see sand/translations

sand

1. Of a light beige colour, like that of typical sand.

see sand/translations

From Middle English sanden, from the noun (see above).

sand (sands, present participle sanding; simple past and past participle sanded)

1. (transitive) To abrade the surface of (something) with sand or sandpaper in order to smooth or clean it.
2. (transitive) To cover with sand.
3. (transitive, historical) To blot ink using sand.

see sand/translations

Abbreviation of sand(piper).

sand (plural sands)

1. (colloquial) A sandpiper.