[F. béton:—OF. betun rubble, rubbish, dirt, app. a. Pr. betun cement:—L. bitūmen mineral pitch (which was used as a cement).] A kind of concrete, composed of sand, lime, and hydraulic cement.
1819. Pantologia, Beton, a name given by the French engineers to a kind of mortar, which they use in raising the foundations of masonry under water.
1877. Wraxell, trans. V. Hugo’s Les Misérables, V. xix. 12. With a coating of concrete on a foundation of beton.
1885. N. York Weekly Sun, 29 April, 3/5. A monolithic block of beton containing the vast quantity of 400 cubic yards.
