cement meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

cement

noun

/səˈmɛnt/ · Southern-US /ˈsi.mɛnt/

Etymology From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“to cut, hew”). Doublet of cementum.

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.

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.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Indigenous bacteria, which naturally exist in specific environments, are being increasingly utilized in self-healing cement to promote calcite precipitation, a process that fills cracks and restores the material’s structural integrity [4,5].2024 October 10, Tiana Milović et al., “Enhancing Compressive Strength of Cement by Indigenous Individual and Co-Culture Bacillus Bacteria”, in Materials, volume 17, number 20, →DOI, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025:

The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance that forms when it dries.

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, Medicine, Sciences The layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; cementum.

Derived terms: 42 terms
asbestos cement, cementable, cemental, cement arm, cementation, cement board, cement car, cement copper, cementer, cement hands, cementhead, cementite, cementless, cementlike, cement mixer, cementoclast, cementoenamel, cementogenic, cementoid, cementopathia, cement shoes, cement steel, cement together, cement works, ferrocement, ferro-cement, fibre cement, hydraulic cement, iron cement, Keene's cement, Martin's cement, masonry cement, noncement, Parian cement, Portland cement, portland cement, re-cement, recement, Roman cement, rubber cement, uncement, water cement
Related terms: concrete

cement

verb

Etymology From Middle English syment, cyment, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“to cut, hew”). Doublet of cementum.

To affix with cement.

To overlay or coat with cement.

to cement a cellar floor

Figuratively To unite firmly or closely.

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.c. 1606–1607 (date written), 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]:
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.1840, John Dunlop, The Universal Tendency to Association in Mankind. Analyzed and Illustrated, London: Houlston and Stoneman, page 103:

Figuratively To repair.

When neibors anger at a plea, / An' just as wud as wud can be, / How easy can the barley-bree / Cement the quarrel!1785, Robert Burns, Scotch Drink:

Figuratively To make permanent.

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.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:
[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.2016 March 27, Daniel Taylor, “Eric Dier seals England’s stunning comeback against Germany”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2016:

1 more example

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.2024 February 15, Fani Willis, 38:21 from the start, in See Fani Willis' entire defiant testimony in stunning courtroom moment, MSNBC, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2024:

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