SAND

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Sand mean? 

• SAND (noun)
  The noun SAND has 3 senses:

1. a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral

2. French writer known for works concerning women's rights and independence (1804-1876)

3. fortitude and determination

  Familiarity information: SAND used as a noun is uncommon.

• SAND (verb)
  The verb SAND has 1 sense:

1. rub with sandpaper

  Familiarity information: SAND used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SAND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("sand" is a kind of...):

dirt; soil (the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock)

Meronyms (substance of "sand"):

atomic number 14; Si; silicon (a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors)

Holonyms ("sand" is a substance of...):

beach (an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake)

quicksand (a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down)

sand bar; sandbar (a bar of sand)

spit; tongue (a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea)

concrete (a strong hard building material composed of sand and gravel and cement and water)

Derivation:

sandy (resembling or containing or abounding in sand; or growing in sandy areas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

French writer known for works concerning women's rights and independence (1804-1876)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin; Baroness Dudevant; George Sand; Sand

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fortitude and determination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

backbone; grit; gumption; guts; moxie; sand

Context example:

he didn't have the guts to try it

Hypernyms ("sand" is a kind of...):

fortitude (strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity with courage)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

• SAND (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sand    ... he / she / it sands   
Past simple: sanded   
Past participle: sanded   
-ing form: sanding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rub with sandpaper

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sand; sandpaper

Context example:

sandpaper the wooden surface

Hypernyms (to "sand" is one way to...):

smooth; smoothen (make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sand"):

rough-sand (sand roughly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sander (a power tool used for sanding wood; an endless loop of sandpaper is moved at high speed by an electric motor)

 Context examples 

At the second trial, the aim was better, and the ball descended inside the stockade, scattering a cloud of sand but doing no further damage.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A little gray-coated sand bird came tripping over the beach 'peeping' softly to itself, as if enjoying the sun and sea.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Did I see her tonight, Ham, on the sand, after we met you?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

When a pile of sand is exposed to wind or water flow, it forms a dune shape and starts moving downstream with the flow.

(Sand dunes can ‘communicate’ with each other, University of Cambridge)

If you've ever gotten a splinter or had sand in your eye, you've had experience with a foreign body.

(Foreign Bodies, NIH)

The boat had lain there for a long time, for it was half filled with sand, and the splintered wood had that weather-worn appearance due to long exposure to the elements.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To build a sandcastle here on Earth, the sand needs to be wet so it can stick together.

('Electric Sands' Cover Titan, VOA News)

He has walked with me, sometimes, from one end of the sands to the other, without saying a word.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Without grasses to anchor the dunes in place, their sand grains are blowing in the wind.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

Each flow ends on a slope that matches the dynamic "angle of repose" seen in the slumping dry sand of dunes on Mars and Earth.

(Recurring Martian Streaks: Flowing Sand, Not Water?, NASA)