cement
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“I cut, hew”). Doublet of cementum.
Pronunciation edit
- IPA(key): /səˈmɛnt/
- (Southern American English) IPA(key): /ˈsi.mɛnt/
- Rhymes: -ɛnt
- Hyphenation: ce‧ment
Noun edit
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 XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- (uncountable) The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance that forms when it dries.
- (uncountable) Any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
- (figurative) 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 edit
Descendants edit
Translations edit
a powdered substance
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the paste-like substance
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any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also edit
Verb edit
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, figurative) To unite firmly or closely.
- c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- 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.
- (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, 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[1], 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.
- 2024 February 15, Fani Willis, 38:21 from the start, in See Fani Willis' entire defiant testimony in stunning courtroom moment[2], MSNBC, archived from the original on February 16, 2024:
- Me and Mr. Wade, we are good friends. My respect for him has grown over these seven weeks of attacks. We are very good friends. I think but for these attacks, it would have been a friendship that, as life goes, we would have stopped having. I think that you have cemented that we'll be friends to the day we die.
Translations edit
to affix with cement
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to make permanent
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Czech edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cement m inan
Declension edit
Related terms edit
Further reading edit
Danish edit
Noun edit
cement c
Related terms edit
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Dutch ciment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cement n (uncountable)
- cement (powder, paste)
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Middle English edit
Noun edit
cement
- Alternative form of syment
Polish edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from German Zement, from late Middle High German cēment, from earlier zīment, zīmente, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cement m inan
Declension edit
Declension of cement
Derived terms edit
adjectives
noun
verb
- cementować impf
Further reading edit
Romanian edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
cement n (plural cementuri)
Declension edit
Declension of cement
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) cement | cementul | (niște) cementuri | cementurile |
| genitive/dative | (unui) cement | cementului | (unor) cementuri | cementurilor |
| vocative | cementule | cementurilor | ||
Serbo-Croatian edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from German Zement, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedo (“I cut, hew”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cèment m (Cyrillic spelling цѐмент)
Declension edit
Swedish edit
Noun edit
cement c
Declension edit
| Declension of cement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uncountable | ||||
| Indefinite | Definite | |||
| Nominative | cement | cementen | — | — |
| Genitive | cements | cementens | — | — |