sandcastling

English

Etymology

From sandcastle +‎ -ing.

Noun

sandcastling (uncountable)

1. The act of building sandcastles.
   • 1981, Joseph Allen, “Chapter 4: The Art of Sandcastling”, in Sandcastles: The Splendors of Enchantment, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 61:

     So the first essential ingredient is a dream. Of course, imagination by itself does not suffice. You must acquire the skills to match your dreams—or you will remain a bemused armchair sandcastler, nurturing pipe dreams of unfulfillable glory. / Fortunately the skills required for sandcastling are developed with reasonable ease in a pleasant environment.

   • 1982, Jeffrey Shear, Michael DiPersio, Steven Schneider, Castles in the Sand, Putnam Press, →ISBN, pages 9, 26:

     A major principle of sandcastling is always to complete your work on a higher level before proceeding to a lower level. […] Making up your own techniques is not difficult. In fact, the more sandcastling you do, the more you will find your imagination taking over.

   • 1994 November 15, Grady Clay, Real Places: An Unconventional Guide to America's Generic Landscape, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, pages 216, 218:

     These sand castles and other constructions became centerpieces for annual festivals and competitions. “Sandcastling” moved beyond family games for kiddies to become a verb. […] Sandcastling origins, far upstream in time, may go back to Egyptians who, four thousand years ago, made sand replicas of pyramids and monuments. […] Sandcastling now joins a host of other occupations which, increasingly in the 1990s, enliven varied sites with once limited but now expanding artistic activities.

   • 2010 February 1, Jonathan Buckley, The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto, Rough Guides UK, →ISBN, Travelling with children:

     In summer you can nip over to the Lido for a paddle and a bout of sandcastling.

Related terms

• sandcastler