Sandcorn
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A grain of sand
"[…] overflowing all with golden splendour, gilding mountains, trees, and grass, making all flowers glow in brilliant colours, throwing bright sparks upon each sandcorn, and causing golden waves to roll in the river of the plain."
- 2 Anything causing irritation or discomfort. broadly, figuratively
"It was the tradition of image-making which carried in its stream, as it were, those indispensable sandcorns of tasks."
Example
More examples"[…] overflowing all with golden splendour, gilding mountains, trees, and grass, making all flowers glow in brilliant colours, throwing bright sparks upon each sandcorn, and causing golden waves to roll in the river of the plain."
Etymology
From Middle English *sandcorn, from Old English sandcorn, from Proto-West Germanic *sandakorn, from Proto-Germanic *samdakurną, equivalent to sand + corn. Cognate with Dutch zandkoren, German Sandkorn, Swedish sandkorn, Icelandic sandkorn.
More for "sandcorn"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.