Sandman

Definitions

1. A surname.
2. A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes.
3. Alternative letter-case form of sandman (“folkloric figure sprinkling sand into eyes”).
   alt-of
4. Used as a symbol of the passage of time toward death.
5. A seller of sand.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“This then was the Sandman; but what was his occupation, and what was his purpose ? The nursery-maid being applied to, gave a nursery-maid's explanation, that the Sandman was a bad man, who flung sand in the eyes of little children who did not go to bed.”

“1811, Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Consisting of One Thousand and One Stories, Told by the Sultaness of the Indies, Henry Mozley (publ.), page 114. While I was out, a sandman, who sells scouring sand, which women use⟳ to clean⟳ the baths with, passed through our street, and called, Any sand ho !”

CEFR level