Portland cement

noun

Port·​land cement ˈpȯrt-lən(d)- 

variants or less commonly portland cement

: a cement (see cement entry 1 sense 1b) that sets under water and that is made by finely pulverizing the clinker produced by heating a mixture of clay and limestone or similar materials to a high temperature just short of fusing

Drexel engineers have found a way to improve upon ordinary Portland cement …, the glue that's bonded much of the world's construction since the late 1800s.

—Swiss National Science Foundation

Once the joints are open, refill them with a dry mix of stone dust and portland cement, mixed at a ratio of 1 part cement to 6 parts dust.

—This Old House

Examples of Portland cement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ellis said Sublime Systems has done extensive testing on the durability of the product and expects, at scale, to be competitive with traditional Portland cement. —Diana Olick, CNBC, 10 July 2024

The simple answer is that they are made of typical construction materials such as aggregates – soils and rocks – as well as asphalt binder and Portland cement, which act like glue to bond it all together. —Mansour Solaimanian, The Conversation, 10 May 2024

Start by mixing equal parts Portland cement, perlite, and peat moss in a large plastic container. —Kenneth Setzer, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024

Concrete resurfacers are basically Portland cement, sand and polymers. —Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 3 Nov. 2023

Most modern concrete starts with Portland cement, a powder made by heating limestone and clay to super-high temperatures and grinding them up. —Maddie Burakoff, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2023

Concrete is basically a mixture of sand, gravel and Portland cement, plus water to make the mixture fluid enough to form and to trigger the chemical reaction that hardens the cement. —Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2023

This biochar, created from two different temperatures, was then incorporated in various percentages into Portland cement as a replacement for fine aggregate (in this case natural sand). —Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 24 Aug. 2023

Instead the mixes consist of just gravel and glue, either Portland cement or asphalt. —Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 7 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Isle of Portland, England; from its resemblance to a limestone found there

First Known Use

1824, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

portland cement

noun

port·​land cement ˌpōrt-lən(d)- 

ˌpȯrt-

: a cement made of clay and limestone