Sand

Sand, sand, n. fine particles of crushed or worn rocks, used in founding: force of character: (pl.) lands covered with sand: a sandy beach: moments of time, from the use of sand in the hour-glass.—v.t. to sprinkle with sand.—ns. Sand′-bag (fort.), a canvas bag filled with sand or earth, forming a ready means of giving cover against an enemy's fire, or of tamping the charge in a mine: an engraver's leather cushion, &c.; Sand′-bag′ger, a robber who uses a sand-bag to stun his victims; Sand′-ball, a ball of soap mixed with fine sand for the toilet; Sand′-band, a guard-ring to keep sand from working into the axle-box; Sand′-bank, a bank of sand formed by tides and currents; Sand′-bath, a vessel of hot sand for heating vessels without direct exposure to the fire: a bath in which the body is covered with warm sea-sand: saburration; Sand′-bear, the Indian badger; Sand′-bed, the bed into which the iron from the blast-furnace is run; Sand′-bird, a sandpiper: a shore bird; Sand′-blast, sand driven by a blast of air or steam for cutting and engraving figures on glass or metal.—adj. Sand′-blind, afflicted with partial blindness, in which particles of sand seem to float before the eyes.—ns. Sand′-blind′ness; Sand′-blow′er, a sand bellows; Sand′-box, a box with a perforated top for sprinkling sand on writing, a contrivance formerly used by way of blotting-paper: a box with sand to prevent the wheels of a rail from slipping; Sand′-brake, a device for stopping trains automatically; Sand′-bug, a burrowing crustacean: a digger-wasp; Sand′-bur, a weed found in the plains of the western United States; Sand′-canal′, the stone canal of an echinoderm; Sand′-cherr′y, the dwarf cherry; Sand′-cock, the redshank; Sand′-crab, the lady-crab; Sand′-crack, a crack in a horse's hoof: a crack in a moulded brick before burning; Sand′-crick′et, a name applied to certain large crickets in the western United States; Sand′-dab, a kind of plaice; Sand′-dart, a British noctuid moth; Sand′-dart′er, -div′er, a small etheostomine fish of the Ohio valley; Sand′-doll′ar, a flat sea-urchin; Sand′-drift, a mound of drifted sand; Sand′-dune, a ridge of loose sand drifted by the wind.—adj. Sand′ed (Shak.), marked with yellow spots: sprinkled with sand: short-sighted.—ns. Sand′-eel, a small eel-like fish, which buries itself in the sand when the tide retires; Sand′erling, a genus of birds of the snipe family, characterised by the absence of a hind-toe, common on the coast, eating marine worms, small crustaceans, and bivalve molluscs; Sand′-fence, a barrier in a stream of stakes and iron wire; Sand′-fish, a fish of the genus Trichodon; Sand′-flag, sandstone which splits up into flagstones; Sand′-flea, the chigoe or jigger; Sand′-flood, a moving mass of desert sand; Sand′-floun′der, a common North American flounder; Sand′-fly, a small New England biting midge; Sand′-glass, a glass instrument for measuring time by the running out of sand; Sand′-grass, grass that grows by the sea-shore; Sand′-grouse, a small order of birds, quite distinct from the true grouse, having two genera, Pterocles and Syrrhaptes, with beautiful plumage, heavy body, long and pointed wings, very short legs and toes; Sand′-heat, the heat of warm sand in chemical operations; Sand′-hill, a hill of sand; Sand′-hill crane, the brown crane of North America; Sand′-hill′er, one of the poor whites living in the sandy hills of Georgia; Sand′-hop′per, a small crustacean in the order Amphipoda, often seen on the sandy sea-shore, like swarms of dancing flies, leaping up by bending the body together, and throwing it out with a sudden jerk: a sand-flea; Sand′-horn′et, a sand-wasp; Sand′iness, sandy quality, esp. as regards colour; Sand′ing, the process of testing the surface of gilding, after it has been fired, with fine sand and water: the process of burying oysters in sand.—adj. Sand′ish (obs.).—ns. Sand′-jet (see Sand′-blast); Sand′-lark, a wading-bird that runs along the sand: a sandpiper; Sand′-liz′ard, a common lizard; Sand′-lob, the common British lug or lob worm; Sand′-mar′tin, the smallest of British swallows, which builds its nest in sandy river-banks and gravel-pits; Sand′-mā′son, a common British tube-worm; Sand′-mole, a South African rodent; Sand′-mouse, the dunlin: a sandpiper; Sand′-natt′er, a sand-snake; Sand′-pā′per, paper covered with a kind of sand for smoothing and polishing; Sand′-peep, the American stint: the peetweet; Sand′-perch, the grass-bass; Sand′piper, a wading-bird of the snipe family, which frequents sandy river-banks, distinguished by its clear piping note.—n.pl. Sand′-pipes, perpendicular cylindrical hollows, tapering to a point, occurring in chalk deposits, and so called from being usually filled with sand, gravel, or clay.—ns. Sand′-pit, a place from which sand is extracted; Sand′-plov′er, a ring-necked plover; Sand′-pride, a very small species of lamprey found in the rivers of Britain; Sand′-pump, a long cylinder with valved piston for use in drilling rocks—a Sand′-sludg′er: a sand-ejector, modified from the jet-pump, used in caissons for sinking the foundations of bridges; Sand′-rat, a geomyoid rodent, esp. the camass rat; Sand′-reed, a shore grass; Sand′-reel, a windlass used in working a sand-pump; Sand′-ridge, a sand-bank; Sand′-roll, a metal roll cast in sand; Sand′-run′ner, a sandpiper; Sand′-sau′cer, a round mass of agglutinated egg-capsules of a naticoid gasteropod, found on beaches; Sand′-scoop, a dredge for scooping up sand; Sand′-screen, a sand-sifter; Sand′-screw, an amphipod which burrows in the sand; Sand′-shark, a small voracious shark; Sand′-shot, small cast-iron balls cast in sand; Sand′-shrimp, a shrimp; Sand′-skink, a European skink found in sandy places; Sand′-skip′per, a beach flea; Sand′-snake, a short-tailed boa-like serpent; Sand′-snipe, the sandpiper; Sand′-spout, a moving pillar of sand; Sand′star, a starfish: a brittle star; Sand′-stone, a rock formed of compacted and more or less indurated sand (Old Red Sandstone, a name given to a series of strata—along with the parallel but nowhere coexisting Devonian—intermediate in age between the Silurian and Carboniferous systems); Sand′-storm, a storm of wind carrying along clouds of sand; Sand′-suck′er, the rough dab; Sand′-throw′er, a tool for throwing sand on newly sized or painted surfaces; Sand′-trap, a device for separating sand from running water; Sand′-vī′per, a hog-nosed snake; Sand′-washer, an apparatus for separating sand from earthy substances; Sand′-wasp, a digger-wasp.—v.t. Sand′-weld, to weld iron with sand.—ns. Sand′-worm, a worm that lives in the sand; Sand′-wort, any plant of the genus Arenaria.—adj. Sand′y, consisting of, or covered with, sand: loose: of the colour of sand.—n. a nick-name for a Scotsman (from Alexander).—ns. Sand′y-car′pet, a geometrid moth; Sand′y-lav′erock (Scot.), a sand-lark. [A.S. sand; Dut. zand, Ger. sand, Ice. sand-r.]