concreteadj.n.
/ˈkɒnkriːt/ A. adj. (The earliest instances appear to be participial.)† 1. † b. Continuous. In Acoustics applied to a sound or movement of the voice sliding continuously up or down; distinguished from discrete movement.
a. United or connected by growth; grown together. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1471 G. Ripley Compound of Alchymy in E. Ashmole Theatrum Chem. Britannicum (1652) 112 For all the parts..be Coessentiall and concrete.
1653 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis (rev. ed.) x. 170 Men, that have monstrous Mouths, and some with concreate lips.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > continuity or uninterruptedness > [adjective]
continualc1340
jointc1400
directa1513
unbroken1561
successive1586
continuate1601
uninterrupted1602
unintermitted1611
continued1628
concrete1651
constant1653
uninterrupted1657
unintermitting1661
solid1662
continuous1751
uninterrupt1776
unbroke1793
unintermittent1850
unbreathing1893
1651 W. G. tr. J. Cowell Inst. Lawes Eng. 60 The second manner of gaining, which..is a discreet or distinct increase, or secretly a Concrete or continued. Whatsoever is born or comes from any sort of animalls under our Subiection or power are absolutely gained unto us.
2. Made up or compounded of various elements or ingredients; composite, compound. ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > state of being composite > [adjective]
compoundc1400
jointc1400
pieced1419
mixed?a1425
complexionatec1430
partyc1500
concrete1536
compost?1541
united1567
composed1570
compounded1570
integral1588
compositive1601
integrate1601
complicate1638
complexa1652
complicated1667
composite1678
co-unala1711
conglomerate1835
polylithic1961
1536 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Convocation i. 40 A thing concrete, heaped up and made of all kinds of mischief.
1849 W. Irving Oliver Goldsmith (rev. ed.) v. 74 This concrete young gentleman, compounded of the pawnbroker, the pettifogger, and the West Indian heir.
3. Formed by union or cohesion of particles into a mass; congealed, coagulated, solidified; solid (as opposed to fluid).† a. as participle.
ΚΠ
1533 T. Elyot Castel of Helthe iv. (R.) Those same vapours..be concrete or gathered into humour superfluous.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest Pref. sig. Avijv Of the seconde sort is the Pumelse concrete of froth.
1701 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 3) ii. 330 Before it was concrete into a Stone.
b. as adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > [adjective] > make (more) dense or solid
congealedc1384
consolidate1531
baked1547
condensate1555
congelate1574
concrete1598
indensate1599
coagulate1610
condense1610
condensated1625
concreted1634
spissed1635
conglaciated1656
corporified1680
solid1697
incrassateda1706
caked1820
solidified1828
consolidateda1850
sadded1894
densified1900
1598 G. Chapman tr. Homer Seauen Bks. Iliades vii. 128 Euen to the concrete bloode That makes the lyuer.
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke i. xiii. 58 In all metalls and concrete bodies.
1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 216 Scammony is a concrete resinous Juice.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 74 One portion appears fluid and the other concrete.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 51/2 Formed of blood scarcely concrete.
1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. I. i. 16 The seeds too, yield a concrete oil.
4. ?1499 J. Skelton Bowge of Courte (de Worde) sig. Bivv A false abstracte cometh from a fals concrete.1594 T. Blundeville Exercises i. xvi. f. 19 Vnderstand, that of numbers some are said to be abstract, and some concreate.1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 117 To expresse them by Abstracts from the Concret of their qualitie..As Maiestie, Highnes, Grace.1656 J. Smith Myst. Rhetorique Unvail'd Explic. sig. A4v The concrete signifies the same form with those qualities which adhere to the subject: The concrete is the Adjective.1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iii. viii. 230 Our simple Ideas have all abstract, as well as concrete Names: The one whereof is (to speak the Language of Grammarians) a Substantive, the other an Adjective; as Whiteness, White.1725 I. Watts Logick i. iv. §5 Concrete terms, while they express the quality, do also either express, or imply, or refer to some subject to which it belongs..But these are not always noun adjectives..a fool, a knave, a philosopher, and many other concretes are substantives.1846 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic (ed. 2) i. ii. §4 A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name is a name which stands for an attribute of a thing.1854 H. Spencer in Brit. Q. Rev. July 148 Let us observe how the relatively concrete science of geometrical astronomy, having been thus far helped forward by the development of geometry in general, reacted upon geometry, caused it also to advance, and was again assisted by it.1860 H. L. Mansel Prolegomena Logica (ed. 2) v. 144 This is the real distinction indicated by the use of concrete or abstract terms.1864 F. C. Bowen Logic (1870) iv. 88 The peculiar or proper appellation of a lower Concept or individual is called its concrete name.1865 J. S. Mill Auguste Comte 33 The concrete sciences..concern themselves only with the particular combinations of phaenomena which are found in existence.1876 C. P. Mason Eng. Gram. (ed. 21) §35 Abstract nouns are sometimes used in the concrete sense..Thus nobility frequently means the whole body of persons of noble birth.1876 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic (1880) 21 The reader should carefully observe that adjectives are concrete, not abstract.1887 T. Fowler Elem. Deduct. Logic (ed. 9) i. i. 15 Nothing has been said above of the common distinction between abstract and concrete terms..I have availed myself of the expression ‘abstract term’, but avoided, as too wide to be of practical service, the contrasted expression ‘concrete term’. Concrete terms include what I have called attributives, as well as singular, collective, and common terms.
a. Applied by the early logicians and grammarians to a quality viewed (as it is actually found) concreted or adherent to a substance, and so to the word expressing a quality so considered, viz. the adjective, in contradistinction to the quality as mentally abstracted or withdrawn from substance and expressed by an abstract noun: thus white (paper, hat, horse) is the concrete quality or quality in the concrete, whiteness, the abstract quality or quality in the abstract; seven (men, days, etc.) is a concrete number, as opposed to the number 7 in the abstract. concrete science (science n. 4b).Afterwards concrete was extended also to substantives involving attributes, as fool, sage, hero, and has finally been applied by some grammarians to all substantives not abstract, i.e. all those denoting ‘things’ as distinguished from qualities, states, and actions. The logical and grammatical uses have thus tended to fall asunder and even to become contradictory; some writers on Logic therefore disuse the term concrete entirely: see quot. 1887. In this Dictionary, concrete is prefixed to those senses in which substantives originally abstract come to be used as names of ‘things’; e.g. crossing verbal noun, i.e. abstract noun of action, concrete a crossing in a street, on a railway, etc.From an early period used as a quasi-n., a concrete (sc. term).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [adjective] > relating to other types of terms
concrete?1499
adequate1615
reflexive1903
aliorelative1915
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > noun > [adjective] > concrete
concrete?1499
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 118 b Turnyng awry, that is to say: From the Concreto to the Abstractum (to use here the termes of Sophistry).]
b. concrete universal n. [universal adj. 1] Philosophy the individual, when regarded as something maintaining its identity through qualitative change or diversity, or as a unity or system or class of separate but identical particulars. Also transferred.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical classification > [noun] > universal
universalc1475
concept1561
universalia1606
concrete universal1865
1865 J. H. Stirling Secret of Hegel I. p. xi As Aristotle, with considerable assistance from Plato, made explicit the abstract Universal that was implicit in Socrates,—so Hegel..made explicit the concrete Universal that was implicit in Kant.
1874 W. Wallace tr. G. W. F. Hegel Logic ix. 267 The Judgment of Necessity..contains..in the predicate, partly the substance or nature of the subject, the concrete universal, the genus.
1876 F. H. Bradley Ethical Stud. v. 147 The good will..is a concrete universal, because it not only is above but is within and throughout its details, and is so far only as they are.
1883 F. H. Bradley Princ. Logic i. vi. 175 The concrete particular and the concrete universal both have reality, and they are different names for the individual.
1912 B. Bosanquet Princ. Individuality ii. 38 A macrocosm constituted by microcosms, is the type of the concrete universal.
1920 M. T. Collins Mod. Concept. Nat. Law 95 A thing, a person, an act—anything—is only seen in its true nature when it is grasped as an organized unity, as a synthesis of the manifold. So far as it is a whole, it is a concrete universal.
1948 Poetry Dec. 159 Concrete universal, a concept, continuous in literary criticism, which implies the paradoxical union in a poem of the concrete, specific, and individual, together with the universal and general. The concrete universal persists among the New Critics.
5. Hence, generally, Combined with, or embodied in matter, actual practice, or a particular example; existing in a material form or as an actual reality, or pertaining to that which so exists. Opposed to abstract. (The ordinary current sense.)Absolutely, the concrete, that which is concrete; in the concrete, in the sphere of concrete reality, concretely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [adjective] > concrete
concrete1655
concretive1656
applicate1766
concreted1875
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [adverb] > concretely
concretively1637
in concretion1642
concretely1654
in the concrete1655
1649 J. Milton Tenure of Kings 16 These Apostles, whenever they give this precept, express it in termes not concret but abstract, as Logicians are wont to speake.]
1655 J. Bramhall Def. True Liberty 85 This..is a Metaphysicall entity abstracted from the matter, which is better than non-entity..But in the concrete it is far otherwise.
1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. §97 Time, place, and motion, taken in particular or concrete.
1789 E. Burke Corr. (1844) III. 114 It is with man in the concrete;—it is with common..human actions, you are to be concerned.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. iii. i. 162 But quitting these somewhat abstract considerations, let History note this concrete reality which the streets of Paris exhibit.
1848 J. R. Lowell Fable for Critics ‘At slavery in the abstract my whole soul rebels, I am as strongly opposed to 't as any one else.’ ‘Ay, no doubt, but whenever I've happened to meet With a wrong or a crime, it is always concrete.’
1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma vii. 225 (note) The most concrete and unmetaphysical of languages.
1880 W. Wallace Epicureanism 172 Their idea of this original matter was concrete and sensuous.
Thesaurus »
6. Made of concrete. [attributive of B. 3.]
7.
a. concrete music n. [translating French musique concrète] a form of music constructed by the arrangement of various recorded sounds into a sequence. (Also with first word in French form concrète.)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [noun] > concrete music
musique concrète1952
concrete music1953
1953 Musical Amer. 15 Jan. 6/3 This method of basing a musical composition on fragmentary sounds, existing concretely, characterizes what Schaeffer has labeled concrete music.
1954 Gramophone Record Rev. Apr. 297 Concrete music is assembled rather than composed.
1954 Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Dec. 778/4 The very latest thing..Concrete Music, the term adopted for the French musique concrète, which is really synthetic electrophonics.
1958 Observer 22 June 15/3 The music, an airborne plunking that deserves a less earthbound epithet than concrète, is by John Addison.
b. concrete poetry n. a form of poetry in which the significance and the effect required depend to a larger degree than usual upon the physical shape or pattern of the printed material. Also elliptically concrete. Hence concretist, concrete poem, concrete poet, etc.The term was coined independently and almost simultaneously in Brazil and Germany: in Brazil (poesia concreta) by the Noigandres group of poets; in Germany (die konkrete Dichtung) by Eugen Gomringer. The usage was formally adopted at a meeting in 1955 between the two originators.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > types of poem according to form > [noun] > concrete poetry
concrete poetry1958
1958 Pilot Plan for Concrete Poetry in M. E. Solt Concrete Poetry (1970) 72 Concrete poem communicates its own structure: structure-content... Concrete Poetry aims at the least common multiple of language.
1966 Isis 16 Feb. 2/1 The Concrete poet tries to investigate language and the materials of which it is composed in a depth which he cannot achieve using conventional syntax.
1966 Isis 16 Feb. 9/1 The early ‘concretists’ were interested in setting words in isolation on the page.
1966 Isis 16 Feb. 9/2 His sensitivity led him to ‘concrete’ as a means of overcoming the deterioration language suffers through overexposure.
1966 Cambr. Rev. 28 May 448/1 ‘Concrete’ poets ignore the traditional boundaries between word and image.
1967 S. Bann Concrete Poetry 17 He has recently contributed the pure Concrete ‘cube-poem’ to the Brighton Festival.
1967 S. Bann Concrete Poetry 17 The links between the early socially committed concrete poems and the ‘popcrete’ poems of Augusto de Campos.
1967 S. Bann Concrete Poetry 24 His first contact with the Concrete movement, however, was with the Brazilians.
1968 Artes Hispanicas I. iii. 7/2 There is a fundamental requirement which the various kinds of concrete poetry meet: concentration upon the physical material from which the poem or text is made.
B. n.
1. quasi-n. a concrete, the concrete: see A. 4, A. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > term of a proposition > [noun] > types of terms in a proposition
concrete?1499
extreme1628
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > noun > [noun] > concrete noun
concrete?1499
thing-worda1853
?1499 [see sense A. 4a]. 1594 [see sense A. 4a]. 1614 [see sense A. 4a]. 1656 [see sense A. 4a]. 1690 [see sense A. 4a].
1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 91 Entity is often us'd as a Concrete for the Thing it self.
1725 [see sense A. 4a]. 1830 T. B. Macaulay Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progr. in Ess. Bunyan is almost the only writer who ever gave to the abstract the interest of the concrete.
2. gen. A concrete or concreted mass, a concretion, compound; a concrete substance. Also figurative (Obsolete in literal sense, except as in B. 3.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [noun] > concreteness > that which is concrete
congest1625
concrete1656
concretion1841
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being mixed or blended > [noun] > a mixture
mingingOE
mungc1175
meddlingc1384
mellaya1400
mixture?a1425
commixtion?a1439
medley1440
brothc1515
mingly1545
mingle1548
maslin1574
miscellane1582
commixture1590
flaumpaump1593
salad1603
miscellany1609
common1619
cento1625
misturea1626
mixtil1654
concrete1656
contemperation1664
ragout1672
crasis1677
alloy1707
mixtible1750
galimatias1762
misc.1851
syllabub1859
mixtry1862
cocktail1868
blend1883
admix1908
mix-up1918
mix1959
meld1973
katogo1994
1656 tr. T. White Peripateticall Inst. 361 The sun is a concrete of combustible matter.
1658 G. Starkey Natures Explic. Ep. to Rdr. sig. a7 The specifick excellency that is in any concrete of the whole vegetable family.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) (at cited word) Antimony is a Natural Concrete, or a Mix'd Body compounded in the Bowels of the Earth; and Soap is a Factitious Concrete, or a Body mix'd together by Art.
1804 J. Abernethy Surg. Observ. 9 Thus an unorganized concrete becomes a living tumour.
a1831 A. Knox Remains (1844) I. 63 That..concrete of truth and error, of greatness and meanness..the Roman Catholic Church.
3. spec.attributive.1881 C. Darwin Form. Veg. Mould 181 The junction of the concrete floor with the walls.
a. A composition of stone chippings, sand, gravel, pebbles, etc., formed into a mass with cement; used for building under water, for foundations, pavements, walls, etc. armoured concrete = reinforced concrete n. at reinforced adj. Compounds. Often attributive. Also in combinations as concrete mixer n. (so concrete mixing). concrete paver n. concrete-press n. a machine for compressing concrete into blocks.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for altering consistency > [noun] > mixing apparatus
pug mill1824
concrete mixer1834
concrete paver1834
paste-maker1875
mixer1876
planet stirrer1902
agitant1918
agitator1937
truck mixer1954
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > concrete > [noun]
concrete1834
1834 London Archit. Mag. 1 35 Making an artificial foundation of concrete (which has lately been done in many places).
1836 G. Godwin in Trans. Inst. Brit. Architects 12 The generic term concrete..perhaps, can only date from that period when its use became general and frequent, probably not longer than 15 or 20 years ago.
1858 G. Glenny Gardener's Every-day Bk. (new ed.) 25/1 Paving with brick, tile, stone, or concrete.
1906 Concrete Mar. p. ii Armoured Concrete Constructions.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 20 Sept. 9/3 An extensive installation of stone-breaking and concrete-mixing machinery is in full work.
1907 Daily Mail 22 Oct. Armoured concrete, reinforced concrete, concrete-steel, or ferro-concrete.
1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Concrete-mixer, a machine for mixing cement, sand, crushed or broken stone, and water in varying proportions for making concrete.
1929 W. Heyliger Builder of Dam 33 A one-bag power concrete mixer.
1930 Engineering 7 Mar. 324/1 The concrete-mixing plant is said to be the largest in Canada.
1954 Gloss. Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 49 Concrete paver, a concrete mixer capable of moving on crawler tracks or rails and provided with a boom and bucket for depositing the concrete in the required position in a pavement.
b. Paving made of concrete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > [noun] > paving > types of paved work
pavementa1300
pavagec1376
paving1448
paithmentc1480
plainstones1611
pitching1693
pitchwork1758
pebble paving1819
pave1835
slabbing1893
concrete1911
crazy paving1923
1911 E. Ferber Dawn O'Hara ii. 13 No tramping of restless feet on the concrete all through the long, noisy hours.
Compounds
concrete operations n. Psychology (in Piaget's theory) those mental processes characteristic of the third stage of cognitive development, in which a child develops the ability to think logically but only about concrete problems.
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the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > logical mental activity > [noun] > means of structuring reality
concrete operations1893
1893 Mind 2 233 A century before Herbart arose, they set aside and condemned the hypostatisation of mental forces under the influence of ‘universal’ names, which served only to obliterate from view the individualised and concrete operations.
1960 J. S. Bruner Process of Educ. iii. 37 Concrete operations, though they are guided by the logic of classes..are means for structuring only immediately present reality.
1975 J. W. Brunk Child & Adolesc. Devel. vi. 252 In the period of concrete operations (approximate ages 7–11), the child becomes capable of logical thought processes that can be applied to concrete problems.
1980 Ann. Rev. Sociol. 6 289 An individual's participation in the modern social world, for example, requires a transition from Piaget's concrete operations to his formal operations stage.
Draft additions January 2009
In perfumery: a fragrant, waxy substance obtained by steeping flowers or spices in a solvent, and from which an absolute (absolute n. 5) may be extracted by distillation.
ΚΠ
1912 A. von Isakovics in A. Rogers & A. B. Aubert Industr. Chem. xxix. 607 These flower materials, either in pomade form, as concretes, or so-called ‘absolutes’, have been invaluable to the perfume industry in the past.
1935 Times 3 Sept. 7/5 In regard to the essential oils and floral concretes, the Committee report that these goods are used mainly in perfumery and pharmacy and for flavouring.
1988 R. Tisserand Aromatherapy for Everyone (1990) vii. 161 Iris root oil, known as orris root ‘concrete’ or iris butter, is not used in aromatherapy.
2005 N.Y. Times 1 May (T: Style Mag.) 90/3 Essences of some flowers are extracted through another process leading to thick, concentrated absolutes and waxy concretes with a very intense fragrance.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
concretev.
/kənˈkriːt/ 1. † b. To unite, combine (attributes, sensations, etc.).
a. transitive. To form by cohesion or coalescence of particles, to form into a mass; to render solid, congeal, coagulate, clot. (Mostly in passive.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > state of being thick enough to retain form > give consistency to [verb (transitive)] > coagulate
thickc1000
runlOE
quaila1398
congealc1400
curd?a1425
thickenc1425
coagulec1550
clumper1562
curdle1585
clutter1601
quarl1607
coagulate1611
posseta1616
sam1615
concrete1635
earn1670
clotter1700
cotter1781
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi vi. 302 The Hard [Bitumen] is more strongly concreted then the other.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. i. 49 The common opinion hath been..that Crystall is nothing else, but Ice or Snow concreted.
1759 J. Mills tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Pract. Treat. Husbandry i. xvi. 81 The juices of the plants are concreted upon the surface.
1784 J. Twamley Dairying Exemplified 33 Runnet..must have sufficient Time to work, concrete, or congeal the Curd into a solid Mass.
1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. iii. xlvii. 556 Ochreous sand, concreted and hardened into a kind of stone.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being combined > combine [verb (transitive)] > immaterial things > qualities or features
unitea1682
concrete1710
combine1827
1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. §99 Those sensations combined, blended, or (if one may so speak) concreted together.
1751 J. Harris Hermes iii. iv. 366 To contemplate Colour concreted with Figure, two Attributes, which the Eye can never view, but associated.
1829 J. Mill Anal. Human Mind (1869) I. viii. 263 In which the ideas of synchronous sensations are so concreted by constant conjunction as to appear..only one.
1829 J. Mill Anal. Human Mind (1869) I. 266 The odour, and colour, and so on, of the rose, concreted into one idea.
2.
a. intransitive. To run into a mass, form a concretion; to become solid, harden, congeal, ‘set’, clot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > become (more) dense or solid [verb (intransitive)]
thicka1000
starkOE
congealc1400
starken?a1513
concrease1578
thicken1598
knit1605
condensate1607
fix1626
saddena1642
concretea1676
incrassate1733
solidify1837
consolidate1885
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iii. vii. 286 The Story of the Egyptian Mice which concrete after the recess of Nilus.
1728 F. Nicholls in Philos. Trans. 1727–8 (Royal Soc.) 35 406 The arsenical Sulphur concretes into yellow Cubes.
1820 M. Faraday Exper. Res. xiii. 38 When condensed again..it concretes in the upper part of the tube.
b. To grow together, combine with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being combined > combine [verb (intransitive)]
adjoin1483
combinate1578
meet1581
symbolize1601
cohere1606
to run together1662
consolidate1690
combine1712
to run into ——a1715
compound1727
accrete1730
amalgamate1797
concrete1853
1853 J. W. Gibbs Philol. Stud. (1857) 56 Primary adjectives..concreting, as it were, with the substantive.
3. transitive. To render concrete. Also reflexive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > give substance to [verb (transitive)] > render concrete
incarnate1591
concrete1654
concretize1884
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > make substantial [verb (reflexive)] > render concrete
concrete1884
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 389 When by incorrigiblenesse Sins be concreted into Sinners, and they become even all one.
1811 P. B. Shelley Let. 2 June (1964) I. 95 You loved a being, an idea in your own mind which had no real existence. You concreted this abstract of perfection.
1846 N. Hawthorne Intell. Office in Mosses ii. v. 86 Without being concreted into an earthly deed.
1864 Good Words 5 231/1 The effect produced by these sketchy portraits..was great in concreting the idea of them.
1884 G. Allen Philistia II. xxii. 249 Don't be so abstract, Ernest; concrete yourself a little.
1888 F. H. Stoddard in Andover Rev. Oct. Concreting God into actual form of man.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 2/3 It is quite right that a bachelor of thirty should stand in loco penitentiae, but to concrete this by putting him into a penitentiary is a little too violent.
1898 J. Conrad Tales of Unrest 203 Precious dreams that concrete the most cherished..of his illusions.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 19 July 2/3 There are few French towns which do not concrete the memory of their distinguished natives by statues.
1928 Spectator 3 Nov. 23 In a story by de Maupassant..English love of beauty in Nature was concreted as perhaps it could only have been by a foreign artist.
1938 T. Wesseling Liturgy & Life i. 5 The whole reason of existence of any product whatever is therefore to realize, to concrete the purpose of the producer.
4. ˈconcrete. [ < concrete n. 3.]
a. transitive. To treat with concrete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > surfacing or cladding > clad or cover [verb (transitive)] > treat or cover with concrete
concrete1882
1882 Daily News 15 Sept. 6/5 To concrete the foundations.
b. intransitive. To use or apply concrete in building.
ΚΠ
1875 Building News 26 Mar. 363/3 (heading) Concreting—What safe distributed load will a floor carry per superficial foot, if the floor were composed of 1 part Portland cement, 1 sand, and 3 of gravel or road-metal?
1885 E. F. Du Cane Punishm. & Prevent. Crime 180 Pile-driving and concreting for the foundations.
1907 Westm. Gaz. 11 Mar. 9/3 We get 9s. a day digging out foundations, and 8s. a yard putting in concrete... We can't go on concreting every day.
c. transitive and intransitive. To overlay or pave with, or embed in, concrete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > paving and road-building > pave or build roads [verb (transitive)] > pave > pave with specific material
causeya1552
flag1615
causeway1744
metal1806
blind1812
macadamize1823
slab1832
flint1834
pebble1835
asphalt1872
concrete1875
cube1887
cobble1888
block1891
wood-block1908
tarmacadam1910
tarviate1926
tarmac1966
1875 Boston Audit 129 Concreting side and cross-walks $2170.
1888 Harper's Mag. Nov. 870/1 The first proposition to concrete the sidewalks of this village.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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