Sander

Definitions

1. A person employed to sand wood.
2. A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, from Ancient Greek.
   countable, obsolete, uncountable
3. A machine to mechanize the process of sanding.
4. A surname transferred from the given name.
   countable, uncountable
5. A device which spreads sand on the rails in wet, snowy, icy, slippery conditions to improve traction.
6. A village in Norway.
   countable, uncountable
7. A small device resembling a salt shaker but containing sand that was shaken over a document to remove excess ink.
   historical

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level