cement
English
WOTD – 17 May 2016

Workers in Iraq using a cement mixer to make cement (sense 2)

Bags of cement (sense 1) used for building construction in Tunisia

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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