sandpipe
sandpipe noun: a pipe conveying sand, as in a steam locomotive, where it deposits sand directly in front of the driving wheels to aid traction.
Noun
sandpipe (plural sandpipes)
- A pipe conveying sand, as in a steam locomotive, where it deposits sand directly in front of the driving wheels to aid traction.
- In the modified locomotive, the leading sanding gear is restored and the sandpipes which formerly led to the trailing coupled wheels are reversed to provide sanding behind the driving wheels for rearward running.1956 April, “"Merchant Navy" Class Pacific Modified”, in Railway Magazine, page 212
- A perpendicular cylindrical hollow, tapering to a point, occurring in chalk deposits, and usually filled with sand, gravel, or clay.
- Some of the enormous fragments of chalk which are interstratified with drift have not only layers of undisturbed flints, but also sandpipes in the middle of them, or cylindrical cavities filled with sand and gravel […]1840, Philosophical Magazine, page 365
Forms of sandpipe
| plural | sandpipes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | sand-pipe |
Origin of sandpipe
From sand + pipe.
Questions about sandpipe
- What does sandpipe mean?
- Sandpipe means a pipe conveying sand, as in a steam locomotive, where it deposits sand directly in front of the driving wheels to aid traction.
- What part of speech is sandpipe?
- Sandpipe is a noun.
- What is the plural of sandpipe?
- The plural of sandpipe is sandpipes.
Words near sandpipe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sandpipe (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.
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Cite this entry: “sandpipe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sandpipe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.