See pound sand in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Probably originating as a mild insult, as the act of pounding sand is considered not only to be a menial task, but also one which causes no fruition, therefore suggesting those who perform it are somehow hopelessly mentally impaired.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "pounds sand",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "pounding sand",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "pounded sand",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pounded sand",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pound dirt",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "pound salt",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "pound sand into a rathole",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "pound sand (third-person singular simple present pounds sand, present participle pounding sand, simple past and past participle pounded sand)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "enough sense to pound sand into a rathole"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010, Eric Blehm, The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Forged a New Afghanistan, HarperCollins, published 2010, →ISBN, page 44:",
"text": "[…] Without men on the ground, we'll be pounding sand.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown: A Memoir:",
"text": "He told Shelton we needed to \"unleash holy hell.\" “We're not just going to pound sand,” he added.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To engage in a futile activity."
],
"id": "en-pound_sand-en-verb-u~FeAb7H",
"links": [
[
"futile",
"futile"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To engage in a futile activity."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"sense": "do something futile",
"word": "get blood from a stone"
},
{
"_dis1": "97 3",
"sense": "do something futile",
"word": "piss up a rope"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English dismissals",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "41 59",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "38 62",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "38 62",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "All you do is complain. Why don't you go pound sand up your ass and stop bothering the line staff.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2003 March 15, Christopher Koch, “Showdown at the 6.0 Corral”, in CIO:",
"text": "\"The price to us was going to be $3 million, and we had four months to pay before the Licensing 6.0 deadline. We told Microsoft to go pound sand.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To go away; get lost; go to hell."
],
"id": "en-pound_sand-en-verb-AyFxR15q",
"links": [
[
"dismissal",
"dismissal"
],
[
"go away",
"go away"
],
[
"get lost",
"get lost"
],
[
"go to hell",
"go to hell"
]
],
"qualifier": "dismissal",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dismissal) To go away; get lost; go to hell."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"sense": "go away",
"word": "get lost"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"sense": "go away",
"word": "go fly a kite"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"sense": "go away",
"word": "take a hike"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 100",
"sense": "go away",
"word": "fuck off"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-pound sand.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-pound_sand.ogg/En-au-pound_sand.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-pound_sand.ogg"
}
],
"word": "pound sand"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "Probably originating as a mild insult, as the act of pounding sand is considered not only to be a menial task, but also one which causes no fruition, therefore suggesting those who perform it are somehow hopelessly mentally impaired.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "pounds sand",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "pounding sand",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "pounded sand",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pounded sand",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "pound dirt",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "pound salt",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "pound sand into a rathole",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "*"
},
"expansion": "pound sand (third-person singular simple present pounds sand, present participle pounding sand, simple past and past participle pounded sand)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "enough sense to pound sand into a rathole"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2010, Eric Blehm, The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Forged a New Afghanistan, HarperCollins, published 2010, →ISBN, page 44:",
"text": "[…] Without men on the ground, we'll be pounding sand.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown: A Memoir:",
"text": "He told Shelton we needed to \"unleash holy hell.\" “We're not just going to pound sand,” he added.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To engage in a futile activity."
],
"links": [
[
"futile",
"futile"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To engage in a futile activity."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English dismissals",
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "All you do is complain. Why don't you go pound sand up your ass and stop bothering the line staff.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2003 March 15, Christopher Koch, “Showdown at the 6.0 Corral”, in CIO:",
"text": "\"The price to us was going to be $3 million, and we had four months to pay before the Licensing 6.0 deadline. We told Microsoft to go pound sand.\"",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To go away; get lost; go to hell."
],
"links": [
[
"dismissal",
"dismissal"
],
[
"go away",
"go away"
],
[
"get lost",
"get lost"
],
[
"go to hell",
"go to hell"
]
],
"qualifier": "dismissal",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, dismissal) To go away; get lost; go to hell."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-pound sand.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/de/En-au-pound_sand.ogg/En-au-pound_sand.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/En-au-pound_sand.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"sense": "do something futile",
"word": "get blood from a stone"
},
{
"sense": "do something futile",
"word": "piss up a rope"
},
{
"sense": "go away",
"word": "get lost"
},
{
"sense": "go away",
"word": "go fly a kite"
},
{
"sense": "go away",
"word": "take a hike"
},
{
"sense": "go away",
"word": "fuck off"
}
],
"word": "pound sand"
}
Download raw JSONL data for pound sand meaning in English (3.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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