cement
English
WOTD – 17 May 2016
Etymology
From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“I cut, hew”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /səˈmɛnt/
Audio (file) - (US South) IPA(key): /ˈsimɛnt/
Audio (AU) (file) - Hyphenation: ce‧ment
Noun
cement (countable and uncountable, plural cements)
- (countable, uncountable) A powdered substance produced by firing (calcining) calcium carbonate (limestone) and clay that develops strong cohesive properties when mixed with water. The main ingredient of concrete.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp, London; New York, NY.: Cassell, OCLC 4293073, OL 1097634W:
- In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
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- (uncountable) The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance (concrete) that forms when it dries.
- (uncountable) Any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
- (figuratively) A bond of union; that which unites firmly, as persons in friendship or in society.
- the cement of our love
- (anatomy) The layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; cementum.
Derived terms
Translations
a powdered substance
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the paste-like substance
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any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
See also
Verb
cement (third-person singular simple present cements, present participle cementing, simple past and past participle cemented)
- (transitive) To affix with cement.
- (transitive) To overlay or coat with cement.
- to cement a cellar floor
- (transitive, figuratively) To unite firmly or closely.
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene 1,
- For they have entertained cause enough
- To draw their swords: but how the fear of us
- May cement their divisions and bind up
- The petty difference, we yet not know.
- 1840, John Dunlop, The Universal Tendency to Association in Mankind. Analyzed and Illustrated, London: Houlston and Stoneman, page 103:
- Olympic Games. — Besides the ordinary confederacies that join independent states together, a singular federal bond is remarkable in the Olympic games, which for many ages cemented the Grecian commonwealths by a joint tie of recreation and religious ritual.
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene 1,
- (figuratively) To make permanent.
- 1758, David Hume, “Essay XXII. Of Polygamy and Divorces.”, in Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, new edition, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand; and A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, at Edinburgh, OCLC 912916757, page 115:
- But friendſhip is a calm and ſedate affection, conducted by reaſon and cemented by habit; ſpringing from long acquaintance and mutual obligations; without jealouſies or fears; and without thoſe feveriſh fits of heat and cold, which cauſe ſuch an agreeable torment in the amorous paſſion.
- 2016 March 27, Daniel Taylor, “Eric Dier seals England’s stunning comeback against Germany”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 22 April 2016:
- [Dele] Alli’s ability to break forward from midfield was a prominent feature and the 19-year-old must have gone a long way to cementing his place in the team.
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Translations
to affix with cement
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to make permanent
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
Czech
Middle English
Polish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈt͡sɛ.mɛnt/
audio (file)
Declension
Derived terms
- cementowy
- cementować
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
Borrowed from German Zement, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedo (“I cut, hew”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tsěment/
- Hyphenation: ce‧ment
Declension
Declension of cement
singular | |
---|---|
nominative | cement |
genitive | cementa |
dative | cementu |
accusative | cement |
vocative | cemente |
locative | cementu |
instrumental | cementom |
Swedish
Declension
Declension of cement | ||||
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Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | cement | cementen | — | — |
Genitive | cements | cementens | — | — |
Related terms
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