sandcorn

plural sandcorns

1. A grain of sand.

   […] overflowing all with golden splendour, gilding mountains, trees, and grass, making all flowers glow in brilliant colours, throwing bright sparks upon each sandcorn, and causing golden waves to roll in the river of the plain.

   1857, Oriental Fairy Tales, page 304

2. broadlyfigurativelyAnything causing irritation or discomfort.

   It was the tradition of image-making which carried in its stream, as it were, those indispensable sandcorns of tasks.

   2006, E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art: Pocket Edition, page 460