sand
/sand
/noun [mass noun]
1A loose granular substance, typically pale yellowish brown, resulting from the erosion of siliceous and other rocks and forming a major constituent of beaches, river beds, the seabed, and deserts: this magical coast boasts mile upon mile of golden sand [count noun]: Britain’s soils are mixtures of sands, silts, and clays...
- The work could be viewed both from boats cruising the bay and from a deserted beach lined with sand dunes.
- Fort Lauderdale Beach Promenade along Atlantic Boulevard provides scenic and easy access to miles of golden sand beaches.
- A perfect view of the ocean stretched out before her, the waves rolling slowly towards the rock and sand of the beach.
Synonyms
beach, sands, shore, seaside, seashore, foreshore, (sand) dunes, sandhills, desert
literary strand
1.1 (sands) An expanse of sand, typically along a shore: [in place names]: Goodwin Sands...
- Exactly one month later, the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the £1 million terminal and flew the Swift across the Goodwin Sands himself.
1.2 [count noun] A stratum of sandstone or compacted sand.The land is on a sand and gravel aquifer, several hundred metres from a reservoir that supplies drinking water to 650,000 homes in Dublin....
- The geology at Grimes Graves comprises a number of flint layers lying below sands and clays and interspersed between chalk.
- The most complete fossil was that of an adult male skull lacking a lower jaw found embedded in ancient cemented sands.
1.3 technical Sediment whose particles are larger than silt (typically greater than 0.06 mm).Rather, it permeates organic matter, binding it to silt, sand, and clay particles....
- Rust, scale, sand or other sediments can clog any activated charcoal filter.
- In laboratory determinations, analyses are made for five size classes of sand, two of silt, and two of clay.
2A light yellow-brown colour like that of sand.This newspaper has learned that the poisonous sand coloured Weever fish has arrived in local waters as a result of global warming....
- The ground was light sand that matched my tan clothes perfectly and the seats surrounding me were all made out of stone.
- He had shaggy sand coloured hair, and today he was wearing another oddly coloured blazer from his collection.
3North American informal Firmness of purpose: no one has the sand to stand against him...
- It is annoying when a guy with a novelty helmet thinks he has the sand to run a million dollar organization.
verb [with object]
1Smooth or polish with sandpaper or a mechanical sander: mask off the area to be painted and sand it down (as noun sanding) some recommend a light sanding between the second and third coats...
- If the rust refuses to budge, use a #800 sand paper to sand the metal and repaint.
- Some log furniture is sanded smooth, some are skipped peeled, some have the bark on and some are completely peeled.
- After peeling the bark, the knots where the branches were need to be sanded to a very smooth finish.
2Sprinkle or overlay with sand, to give better purchase on a surface.The heavily sanded Turf Moor surface is a cause for concern ahead of tonight's big kick-off....
- Citing a similar accident the week before on Ring Road, one taxi driver speculated that if the city had sanded the road sooner, the accident wouldn't have happened.
Phrases
the sands (of time) are running out
Derivatives
sand-like
- The sand-like residue [from the mine's rock-crushing] is also a problem because it is still generating radon.
- The council then treated the residue with a sand-like substance before safely removing all of it from the roadway.
- In the Nature paper, we reported a huge emission feature due to silicate particles, miniscule, microscopic, sand-like particles, and such a feature was not present in the IRAS data, because IRAS could not do that kind of spectroscopy.
Origin
Old English, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch zand and German Sand.