Word: sand Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree substratebor. Proto-Indo-European *sámdʰos? Proto-Germanic *samdaz Proto-West Germanic *samd Old English sand Middle English sond English sand 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”). Pronunciation: /sænd/, [seənd] ~ [sɛənd], /sand/, /sæːnd/, [seːnd] ~ [sɛeːnd] 1. 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. Labels: uncountable, usually Example: 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. Example: “We are addicted to sand but don’t know it because we don’t buy it as individuals,” says Aurora Torres, […] 2. 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. Labels: countable, usually Example: One sand was that used in cement testing with white well rounded smooth grains, passing through a 20-mesh sieve and retained on a 30-mesh sieve. The other was ordinary brown building sand, passing 40-mesh and retained on 60-mesh. 3. 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. Labels: countable, in-plural, often, usually Example: The Canadian tar sands are a promising source of oil. Example: From east and south the danger was to be expected. Not from the uninhabited northern desert, not from the desolate sands of the unknown west, would it come. 4. Personal courage. Labels: dated, uncountable, usually Example: You may say what you want to, but in my opinion she had more sand in her than any girl I ever see; in my opinion she was just full of sand. Example: He said, “I admire your sand but I believe you will find I am not liable for such claims. Let me say too that your valuation of the horse is high by about two hundred dollars.” 5. A particle from 62.5 microns to 2 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale. Labels: uncountable, usually 6. A light beige colour, like that of typical sand. Labels: uncountable, usually 7. A single grain of sand. Labels: countable, obsolete, usually Example: One sand another. Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad 8. A moment or interval of time; the term or extent of one's life (referring to the sand in an hourglass). Labels: countable, figuratively, usually Example: The sands are numbered that make up my life. Example: Cf. sands of time (idiom) 9. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). Labels: uncountable, usually Example: Sleep in your eyes, sleep crust, sand, eye gunk—whatever you call it, we all get it—that crusty stuff in the corners of your eyes when you wake up in the morning. "The medical term is 'rheum,' though you rarely hear it used," […] 10. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). Labels: figuratively, uncountable, usually Example: 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. 11. Dried mucus in the eye's inner corner, perhaps left from sleep (sleepy sand). Labels: uncountable, usually Example: Cf. “Sand in My Eyes”, in TV Tropes, 1 March 2023 (last accessed): “Alternative Title(s): Something In My Eye”