Word.ws English Dictionary

sand boil

UK/ˈsænd bɔɪl/

sand boil noun: an eruption of water through a bed of sand due, for instance, to seismic activity, or to differences in water pressure on two sides of a levee which causes water to penetrate beneath the levee.

sand boil: an eruption of water through a bed of sand due, for instance, to seismic activity, or to...
Image: Tim, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sand boil (plural sand boils)

  1. An eruption of water through a bed of sand due, for instance, to seismic activity, or to differences in water pressure on two sides of a levee which causes water to penetrate beneath the levee.
    • "Whew!" said Tom, his eyes opening wide. "What must I do when I find a sand boil?" / "If you see a boil developing, grab a sack of dirt—we'll leave some at points a few hundred feet apart—put it right over the spout; pile on more as fast as you can and blow your horn for help, and keep blowing. We...1913 February, Garrard Harris, “Tom Ralston vs. The Mississippi: How One Boy Fought against Odds and Held in Check the Father of Waters”, in Boys' Life: The Boy Scouts' Magazine, volume II, number...
    • Sand boils are regarded as an annoyance in protecting areas below flood level behind the levees, but investigations into their occurrence reveal significant information on the interrelation between floodwaters and the movement of ground water in alluvial valleys. During the 1937 flood, the Illinois...1968, Paul R[udolph] Speer, W. J. Perry, John A. McCabe, O. G. Lara [et al.], “Low Flows and Ground-water Fluctuations”, in Low-flow Characteristics of Streams in the Mississippi Embayment in...
  2. (rare) A boil which forms when sand particles enter and irritate the skin.
    • The boils called sand boils, which form on the front of the knee, are generally produced by small particles of sand being rubbed beneath the skin when the men are kneeling to holystone the decks. Very troublesome sores are thus produced. Great care should, therefore, be taken never to kneel with...1861, T[homas] Spencer Wells, “Boils”, in The Scale of Medicines with which Merchant Vessels are to be Furnished, by Command of the Privy Council for Trade; with Observations on the Means of...

Examples of sand boil in a sentence

  • These "sand boils" are produced where liquefied material, mostly sand and water, quietly boils out from its vent, sometimes for two or three days following the earthquake.1995, Ray Knox, David Stewart, “Recognizing Seismic Landforms”, in The New Madrid Fault Finders Guide, Marble Hill, Mo.: Gutenberg-Richter...
  • All sand boils should be watched closely.2015, Sheng-Hong Chen, “Operation and Maintenance of Hydraulic Structures”, in Hydraulic Structures, Heidelberg: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN...
  • The boils called sand boils, which form on the front of the knee, are generally produced by small particles of sand being rubbed beneath the skin when the men are kneeling to holystone the decks.1861, T[homas] Spencer Wells, “Boils”, in The Scale of Medicines with which Merchant Vessels are to be Furnished, by Command of the Privy...

Forms of sand boil

pluralsand boils

Questions about sand boil

What does sand boil mean?
Sand boil means an eruption of water through a bed of sand due, for instance, to seismic activity, or to differences in water pressure on two sides of a levee which causes water to penetrate beneath the levee.
How do you use sand boil in a sentence?
These "sand boils" are produced where liquefied material, mostly sand and water, quietly boils out from its vent, sometimes for two or three days following the earthquake.
What part of speech is sand boil?
Sand boil is a noun.
How do you pronounce sand boil?
Sand boil is pronounced /ˈsænd bɔɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of sand boil?
The plural of sand boil is sand boils.

Words near sand boil in the dictionary

  1. sand blackberry
  2. sand bluestem
  3. sand bluestems
  4. sand boa
  5. sand boas
  6. sand boil
  7. sand boils
  8. sand box
  9. sand boxes
  10. sand break
  11. sand breaks

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sand boil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-sand boil.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sand boil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sand_boil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.