any of various calcined mixtures of clay and limestone, usually mixed with water and sand, gravel, etc., to form concrete, that are used as a building material.
2.
any of various soft, sticky substances that dry hard or stonelike, used esp. for mending broken objects or for making things adhere.
3.
Petrography. the compact groundmass surrounding and binding together the fragments of clastic rocks.
4.
anything that binds or unites: Time is the cement of friendship.
5.
Dentistry.
a.
a hardening, adhesive, plastic substance, used in the repair of teeth for anchoring fillings or inlays, for filling, or for fastening crowns.
to unite by or as if by cement: to cement stones to form a wall; to cement a relationship.
7.
to coat or cover with cement: to cement a floor.
–verb (used without object)
8.
to become cemented; join together or unite; cohere.
[Origin: 1250–1300; < L cémentum, var. of caementum (sing. of caementa unprocessed cuttings from the quarry, i.e., rough stone and chips) < *caed-mentom, equiv. to caed(ere) to cut + -mentum-ment; r. ME cyment < OF ciment < L, as above]
A building material made by grinding calcined limestone and clay to a fine powder, which can be mixed with water and poured to set as a solid mass or used as an ingredient in making mortar or concrete.
Portland cement.
Concrete.
A substance that hardens to act as an adhesive; glue.
Something that serves to bind or unite: "Custom was in early days the cement of society"(Walter Bagehot).
Geology A chemically precipitated substance that binds particles of clastic rocks.
Dentistry A substance used for filling cavities or anchoring crowns, inlays, or other restorations.
[Middle English, from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum, rough-cut stone, rubble used in making concrete, from caedere, to cut; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots.]
c.1300, from O.Fr. ciment, from L. cæmenta "stone chips used for making mortar," from cædere "to cut down, chop, beat, hew, fell, slay" from PIE base *(s)k(h)a- "to strike" (cf. Skt. skhidati "beats, tears," Lith. kaisti "shave," Ger. heien "beat"). The sense evolution from "small broken stones" to "powdered stones used in construction" took place before the word reached Eng. The verb is from 1340.
a mixture of clay and lime (usually with sand and water added) used for sticking things (eg bricks) together in building and to make concrete for making very hard surfaces
Cement City, MI (village, FIPS 14260) Location: 42.06840 N, 84.32732 W Population (1990): 493 (179 housing units) Area: 2.3 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 49233
Cement, OK (town, FIPS 13000) Location: 34.93631 N, 98.13624 W Population (1990): 642 (327 housing units) Area: 1.2 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 73017
Ce*ment"\ (s[e^]*m[e^]nt" or s[e^]m"[e^]nt), n. [OF. cement, ciment, F. ciment, fr. L. caementum a rough, unhewn stone, pieces or chips of marble, from which mortar was made, contr. fr. caedimentum, fr. caedere to cut, prob. akin to scindere to cleave, and to E. shed, v. t.]1. Any substance used for making bodies adhere to each other, as mortar, glue, etc. 2. A kind of calcined limestone, or a calcined mixture of clay and lime, for making mortar which will harden under water. 3. The powder used in cementation. See Cementation, n., 2. 4. Bond of union; that which unites firmly, as persons in friendship, or men in society. "The cement of our love." 5. (Anat.) The layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; -- called also cementum. Hydraulic cement. See under Hydraulic.
Ce*ment"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cemented; p. pr. & vb. n. Cementing.] [Cf. F. cimenter. See Cement, n.]1. To unite or cause to adhere by means of a cement. --Bp. Burnet. 2. To unite firmly or closely. --Shak. 3. To overlay or coat with cement; as, to cement a cellar bottom.
Ce*ment"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cemented; p. pr. & vb. n. Cementing.] [Cf. F. cimenter. See Cement, n.]1. To unite or cause to adhere by means of a cement. --Bp. Burnet. 2. To unite firmly or closely. --Shak. 3. To overlay or coat with cement; as, to cement a cellar bottom.
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