GC: n
S: GOV.UK – https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/255053/13-313k-construction-building-materials-bulletin-october-2013.pdf (last access: 30 March 2014); UltraTechcem – https://www.ultratechcement.com/for-homebuilders/home-building-explained-single/descriptive-articles/what-is-concrete-types-composition-properties-and-uses (last access: 5 December 2024).
N: 1. 1520s, “that which is material or not abstract,” a noun use of concrete (adj.). Meaning “a mass formed by concretion” is from 1650s, from the literal sense of Latin concretus. Hence “building material made from sand, gravel, stone chips, etc., cemented together” (1834).
2. concrete (building material), in construction, structural material consisting of a hard, chemically inert particulate substance, known as aggregate (usually sand and gravel), that is bonded together by cement and water.
3. Among the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, the bonding substance most often used was clay. The Egyptians developed a substance more closely resembling modern concrete by using lime and gypsum as binders. Lime (calcium oxide), derived from limestone, chalk, or (where available) oyster shells, continued to be the primary pozzolanic, or cement-forming, agent until the early 1800s. In 1824 an English inventor, Joseph Aspdin, burned and ground together a mixture of limestone and clay. This mixture, called portland cement, has remained the dominant cementing agent used in concrete production.
Aggregates are generally designated as either fine (ranging in size from 0.025 to 6.5 mm [0.001 to 0.25 inch]) or coarse (from 6.5 to 38 mm [0.25 to 1.5 inch] or larger). All aggregate materials must be clean and free from admixture with soft particles or vegetable matter, because even small quantities of organic soil compounds result in chemical reactions that seriously affect the strength of the concrete.
4. Types of Concrete: concrete.
- Mixture of aggregate, cement and water, which hardens.
- Concrete is composed of sand, gravel, crushed rock, or other aggregates held together by a hardened paste of hydraulic cement and water.
- concrete: designation and definition standardized by ISO [International Organization for Standardization].
- French equivalent: béton.
5. Lexicology, Lexicography, Terminology: concrete.
- A semantic label indicating that an entry term designates a tangible reality, i.e. one that is physically real and perceptible by the senses.
- French equivalent: concret.
6. Collocations: concrete (noun).
- Adjective. solid | bare a floor made of bare concrete | wet | pre-cast, ready-mix/ready-mixed, reinforced
- Quantity. layer, slab.
- Verb + concrete. mix | lay, pour | be made from/(out) of | set sth in The pathway is formed from large pebbles set in concrete. (figurative) I do not regard the constitution of the United Kingdom as set in concrete.
- concrete + verb. set Before the concrete sets the surface can be given a final smoothing over.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=concrete (last access: 5 December 2024). 2 & 3. EncBrit – http://global.britannica.com/technology/concrete-building-material (last access: 30 July 2015). 4 & 5. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=concrete&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 5 December 2024). 6. OCD – https://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=concrete (last access: 13 December 2024).
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