sander
/ˈsændɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.94 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A device which spreads sand on the rails in wet, snowy, icy, slippery conditions to improve traction.
noun
A small device resembling a salt shaker but containing sand that was shaken over a document to remove excess ink.
name
A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The autophiles hang around a big, fluorescent-lighted garage with cars on cinder blocks, ostensibly in competition for a job, and they talk to the camera in between sessions at the sander or other machines."
- "Grass growing on the track made the running far from easy, and only frequent use of the sanders enabled us to breast the 1 in 50 gradients between Letterkenny and Kilmacrenon [sic]."
- "Traditionally, sand was used to aid grip, being released onto the track in front of the wheels from a special 'sandbox'. However, the Slough accident led to two trials on the use of train-borne sanders to aid braking: [...] Now, all new stock is fitted with automatic sanders, as have most of the pre-1994 units still running."
Etymology
Etymology tree substratebor. Proto-Indo-European *sámdʰos? Proto-Germanic *samdaz Proto-West Germanic *samd Old English sand Middle English sond English sand Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English sander From sand + -er.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsændɚ/
- British English: /ˈsɑːndə/