sandy, a.
(ˈsændɪ)
Forms: 1 sandiᵹ, 4 sondi, 4–5 sondy(e, 4– sandy.
[OE. sandiᵹ: see sand n.2 and -y. Cf. Du. zandig, MHG. sandic (G. sandig), ON. sǫndug-r (Sw., Da. sandig).]
1. Of the nature of sand; composed of or containing a large proportion of sand.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 94 Ðeos wyrt..wihst..on sandiᵹum landum. 1382 Wyclif Acts xxvii. 17 Thei vseden girdyng to gidere of schipp, dredynge lest thei schulden falle into sandy placis. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 447 Lond myxt with cley, or sondy cley, faat sonde. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxviii. vi, Where the deepe did show his sandy flore. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 28 The Mason must work no Stone with Sandy veines. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 285 With sandy Ballast Sailors trim the Boat. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 55 In other parts it [the ocean] leaves wide sandy plains. 1787 Trans. Soc. Arts V. 216 Rubbed in with a brickbat or sandy stone. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 200 The term sandy..should never be applied to any soil that does not contain at least seven eighths of sand. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 169 A subsoil, the deeper the sandier. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xi, The spit of sandy rock which juts Spitefully northward. |
b. Of or containing sand as used for measuring time. (
Cf. sand-glass.)
poet.| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 36 Ere the Glasse that now begins to runne, Finish the processe of his sandy houre. 1607 Heywood Wom. Killed w. Kindn. Wks. 1874 II. 138 O God, that it were possible..That time could turne vp his swift sandy glasse..to redeeme these houres! 1893 F. Thompson Poems 31 The sandy glass hence bear—Antique remembrancer. |
2. fig. Resembling sand as lacking the quality of cohesion or stability.
| 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. A iij b, You may easily perceiue what successe they are like to haue, that deale with so leaden and sandie braines. 1592 ― Four Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 265 The short shredder out of sandy sentences without lime. a 1609 Donne Lett. (1654) 162 It were no service to you, to send you my notes upon the Book, because they are sandy, and incoherent ragges. 1628 Prynne Cens. Cozens 29 Who build the Antiquitie of their Canonicall Howers vpon such a sandy foundation. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. ii. 105 But mark how sandy is your own pretence. a 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers iii. (1722) 107 He said they [sc. the Quakers] were built upon a sandy Foundation, and so call'd them Shakers. 1822 B. Cornwall Dram. Scenes, Amelia Wentworth i, Oh, what a picture have I raised upon My sandy wishes. 1861 Buckle Civiliz. II. i. 41 Now it was that men might clearly see on how sandy a foundation the grandeur of Spain was built. |
3. Having hair of a yellowish-red colour; of hair, yellowish-red.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §68 A sandy colte, lyke an yren grey. 1575 Gamm. Gurton iv. i, Hath your browne cow cast hir calfe, or your sandy sowe her pigs? 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 841 The Tocomans..are sandie, small, but not so little as they say of the Pigmees. 1731 Swift Cassinus & Peter Wks. 1755 IV. i. 163 Why, plague confound her sandy locks. 1833 Marryat P. Simple viii, He was a florid young man..with sandy hair. 1845 Disraeli Sybil ii. xi, The ladies Fitz-Warene were sandy girls. |
4. Qualifying the names of colours.
| 1819 Warden United States II. 409 Oak, sandy red. 1851 Borrow Lavengro xcix, My mother's sandy-red cat. 1885 J. Beddoe Races Brit. 266 Red [hair], and a sort of sandy-flaxen hue. 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 67 Wing-coverts edged with sandy-buff. Ibid. 78 The..plumage is obscured by sandy-rufous edges to the feathers. |
5. Comb., parasynthetic, as
sandy-bottomed,
sandy-coloured,
sandy-haired,
sandy-pated.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 66 From the Banks of Wye, And *sandy-bottom'd Seuerne. |
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 86 The red or *sandy coloured are the best. 1871 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 272 Her hair was cut..so as to cover her forehead with a straggling sandy-coloured fringe. |
| a 1817 Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) IV. iii. 49 Colonel Wallis's companion..certainly was not *sandy-haired. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair ii, She was..pale, sandy-haired. |
| 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 77 Your *sandy-pated companions. |
b. Special
Comb., as
sandy blight Austral., a kind of ophthalmia in which the eye feels as if full of sand (Morris);
sandy carpet, a moth (see
quot.);
sandy hill crane = sand-hill crane s.v. sand-hill b;
sandy laverock = sand lark;
sandy mocking-bird U.S., the brown thrush,
Harporynchus rufus;
sandy pate, a sandy-haired person;
sandy pear = sand pear s.v. sand n.2 10 c;
sandy ray,
Raia circularis, also
R. maculata.
| 1869 J. F. Blanche Prince's Visit 20 The Prince was suffering from the *sandy blight. |
| 1829 J. F. Stephens Syst. Catal. Brit. Ins. II. 148 [Emmelesia decolorata] *Sandy Carpet. |
| 1819 D. Thomas Trav. Western Country 210 A bird inhabits this country called the *sandy hill Crane. 1825 Sandy hill crane [see lyed ppl. a.]. |
| 1710 Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) IV. 793 To restrict him to the fifth part of the rent, was to send him to lift the rest of his stipend from windle⁓straws and *sandy laverocks. 1816 Scott Old Mort. vii, I had rather that the rigs..bare naething but windle-straes and sandy lavrocks. |
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, *Sandy⁓pate, one red-hair'd. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue. |
| 1884 tr. A. de Candolle's Orig. Cultivated Plants 233 *Sandy Pear, Chinese Pear. |
| 1870 Günther Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. VIII, Raja circularis. *Sandy Ray. 1880–4 Day Brit. Fishes II. 346 Raia maculata... Sandy ray. Ibid. 348 Raia circularis... Sandy-ray. |