sandman

Meaning

1. A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes.
2. Used as a symbol of the passage of time toward death.
3. (obsolete) A seller of sand.

Translations

marchand de sable

Sandmann

Sandmännchen

Klaas Vaak

المنوّم

João Pestana

joão-pestana

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsænd.mæn/

Etymology

From sand + -man. The mythological sense may be from German Sandmann, Sandmännchen, as it is apparently first attested in English in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). The German is attested in the relevant sense since at least the mid-18th century.