sandman
n.n. a mythical figure who brings sleep to people by sprinkling them with sand. In modern stories, he is often a character who helps children fall asleep at night.
n. a mythical being or character who induces sleep by sprinkling sand on the eyes of the sleeping. Often personified as a figure in folklore or children's literature to facilitate the transition to sleep.
The children waited for the Sandman to arrive before they fell asleep.
In many traditional bedtime stories, the Sandman is depicted as a gentle figure who ensures everyone gets a good night's rest.
The Sandman serves as a liminal guardian in the narrative, bridging the waking world and the realm of dreams through his quiet, almost imperceptible intervention.
From sand + -man. The mythological sense may be from German Sandmann, Sandmännchen, as it is apparently first attested in English in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). The German is attested in the relevant sense since at least the mid-18th century.