greensand

American  

[green-sand] / ˈgrinˌsænd /

noun

1. a sandstone containing much glauconite, which gives it a greenish hue.

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greensand British  

/ ˈɡriːnˌsænd /

noun

1. an olive-green sandstone consisting mainly of quartz and glauconite

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Etymology

Origin of greensand

First recorded in 1790–1800; green + sand

Example Sentences

Nor do I see my way to the acceptance of the suggestion of Dr. Carpenter, that the red clay is the result of the decomposition of previously-formed greensand.

From Discourses Biological and Geological Essays by Huxley, Thomas Henry

The road ascends the “hollow way” cut through the greensand, and a timber footbridge is flung across it leading from the Church to the Rectory.

From Tennyson and His Friends by Various

This separated out the nodules, while the greensand and water was run off as thick mud; used, when dry, for levelling the land, and sometimes for brick-making.

From Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely by Conybeare, Edward

I whipped the little pony on, and he began to trot down a cutting in the greensand, through which leads the station road.

From A Book of Ghosts by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)

These are small, hard, gray nodules, obtained by washing a stratum, of about one foot in thickness, lying in the upper greensand formation in Cambridgeshire.

From The Galaxy, Volume 23, No. 2, February, 1877 by Various