3. The sand in the hourglass; hence, a moment or interval of time; the
term or extent of one's life.
The sands are numbered that make up my life.
Shak.
4. pl. Tracts of land consisting of sand, like the deserts of Arabia
and Africa; also, extensive tracts of sand exposed by the ebb of the
tide. "The Libyan sands." Milton. "The sands o' Dee." C. Kingsley.