▪ I. cement, n.
(sɪˈmɛnt, ˈsɛmənt)
Forms: 3–5 syment, 4 siment, 5–7 cy-, sement, 5 scyment, symonde, 6 sciment, symunt, 6–7 ciment, 7 seiment, symond, cemente, cœment, 8 scement, 6– cement.
[ME. cyment, a. OF. ciment (= Pr. cimen, Sp., Pg. cimento):—L. cæment-um (in late L. cimentum), contr. for cædimentum rough unhewn stone, chip, lit. ‘cutting’, ‘produce of cutting or chipping’, f. cædĕre to cut. In 16th c. altered to cement after the L. form. The pronunciation ˈcement is found from 14th c., but is now almost superseded by ceˈment, after the vb.
The name appears to have been given to broken or pounded stone, tiles, etc. mixed with lime to form a setting mortar, and at length to the mortar or plaster so formed, whence it passed into the modern sense of strong setting mortar, or of mortar generally, however made.]
1. A substance used to bind the stones or bricks of a building firmly together, to cover floors, to form walls, terraces, etc., which being applied in a soft and pasty state, afterwards hardens into a stony consistency; esp. a strong mortar, produced by the calcination of a natural or artificial mixture of calcareous and argillaceous matter.
hydraulic cements harden under water, and are used for piers, dock-walls, etc. Roman cement, like all the hydraulic cements, is an argillaceous lime. Portland cement is so called because it resembles in colour the Portland stone. It is prepared by calcining a mixture of the clayey mud of the Thames with a proper proportion of chalk (Ure).
| c 1300 K. Alis. 6177 A clay..Strong so yren, ston, or syment. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2125 The fir..falsed the siment, and the ston. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. xxiv. (Tollem. MS.), Lyme..is a ston brente; by medlynge þerof with sonde and water sement is made. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 190 This scyment, bryk, stoon, cley togeðer drie. c 1440 York Myst. viii. 102 Sadly sette it with symonde fyne. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) H vj, With diuers stones and one ciment. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 20 Their Lime..composed a Seiment, which joyned with Stone (or Brick) made an inseparable union. 1712 Blackmore Creation i. 230 For want of cement strong enough to bind The structure fast. 1791 Smeaton Edystone L. §172 Nothing in the way of Cement would answer our end, but what would adhere to a moist surface, and become hard. 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 329 Cement, or mortar, is a preparation of lime and sand, mixed with water. 1851 Richardson Geol. 361 Ovate nodules of argillaceous limestone..named septaria..extensively used for cement. 1862 Darwin Fertil. Orchids i. 15 Setting like a cement hard and dry in a few minutes' time. |
2. gen. a. Any substance applied in a soft or glutinous state to the surfaces of solid bodies to make them cohere firmly.
| 1562 W. Bullein Bk. Simples 85 a, Whan stone pottes be broken, what is better to glew them againe..like the Symunt made of Cheese. 1641 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 191 Wax, rossel, and stone pitch to make symond for mending the fount stone broken by the Scotts. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 97 No Air could pierce the Cœment, that luted the Glass and Lead-Pipe together. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 3 The fluids of the animal itself furnish the cement. 1839–60 Ure Dict. Arts s.v. (L.), The diamond cement..which is sold as a secret at an absurdly dear price, is composed of isinglass soaked in water..to which a little gum resin, ammoniac, or galbanum, and resin mastic are added. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 48 The cement generally used by engravers..to fit their work is composed of four parts of pitch, two of plaster of Paris, and one of resin. |
b. Any uniting medium or substance.
rare.
| 1604 E. G[rimston] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies i. iii. 11 Any other ciment or uniting to the earth then the Element of water. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 466 The quantity of air discharged from metals, is supposed to be the cement or principle, which unites all the parts together. |
c. fig. A principle of union.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. ii. 29 The peece of Vertue which is set Betwixt vs, as the Cyment of our loue To keepe it builded. 1607 Chapman Bussy D'Amb. (1613) K iij b, But Friendship is the Sement of two mindes. 1742 R. Blair Grave 88 Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul! 1826 E. Irving Babylon I. iii. 246 Faith is the cement of all domestic and social union. 1872 Bagehot Physics & Pol. (1876) 184 Custom was in early days the cement of society. |
3. transf. A substance resembling cement, used for some other purpose;
e.g. for stopping teeth.
| 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxv. 152 Staues of drye wode all holowe withinne and full of fyre of cyment of oyle and of towe. 1625 W. Beale's Patent in Abridgm. Specif. (1862) 1 Certen compounded stuffes and waters called..cement or dressing for shippes. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cement, a term applied to certain soft compounds used for stopping of carious teeth. |
4. Phys. The bony tissue forming the outer crust of the fang of the tooth.
| 1849–52 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 865/1 ‘Cement’ always closely corresponds in texture with the osseous tissue. 1855 Owen Skel. & Teeth 104. 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 250 The cement invests the fang. |
5. a. Mining. (See
quot.)
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Cement (Australia and Pacific), gravel firmly held in a silicious matrix, or the matrix itself. |
b. (See
quots.)
Cf. cement-gold.
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., Cement,..3... a. The brown deposit in the precipitation tank, wherein the soluble chloride of gold, obtained by the chlorination process, is deposited by the addition of sulphate of iron to the solution. b. The material in which the metal is imbedded in the cementing-furnace. 1889 [see cementation2 c]. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., as
cement-covered,
cement-forming adjs.;
cement-cell, a
cell (14 c) formed of a ring of cement:
cement-copper (see
quot.);
cement-duct (
Zool.), a duct in Cirripeds which conveys through the antenna the ‘cement’ by which the animal attaches itself;
cement-gland, the gland at the base of each antenna which secretes this cement;
cement-gold,
-silver,
-steel (see
quots.);
cement-stone, a nodule of argillaceous limestone occurring embedded in clay, from which cement is made;
cement wall,
cement-water (see
quots.).
| 1881 Carpenter Microscope 214 A ‘*cement-cell’ answers this purpose very well. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Cement-copper, copper precipitated from solution. |
| 1849–52 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 896/2 The *cement-covered cylindrical base of the tooth. |
| 1855 Owen Skel. & Teeth 292 The enamel organ and *cement-forming capsule. |
| 1871 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. 498 In each of the antennæ there is situated a duct, derived from a large glandular body (the *cement-gland). |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Cement-gold, gold precipitated in fine particles from solution. |
| Ibid. *Cement-silver, silver precipitated from solution, usually by copper. |
| Ibid. s.v. Steel, Blister or *cement-steel is made by carburizing wrought iron bars by packing them in charcoal powder and heating without access of air. |
| 1863 A. Ramsay Phys. Geog. xxxv. (1878) 611 *Cement stones are also found..in the Eocene strata. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 824 The Blue Lias cement-stones are considered the strongest water-limes of this country. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 457/1 A *Cement Wall..is a wall made of River Pebbles, or Marble Stones split in the middle. |
| 1762 tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. I. 50 *Cement-Waters, that contain the vitriolic copper; and on laying clean iron in them they corrode its particles, and substitute others of copper. |
Hence
ceˈmentless a., devoid of cement.
| 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. IV. v. xix. §12 Rough with cementless and jagged brick. |
▪ II. cement, v. (
sɪˈmɛnt)
Forms: 4
syment, 4–7
cyment, 7
ciment,
simment, 7–
cement.
[f. prec. n. Cf. F. cimenter.] 1. trans. To unite (solid bodies) with cement.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9068 Alle manere of precyouse stanes sere, Cymented with gold. c 1400 Mandeville xxvi. 268 Of grete Stones and passynge huge, wel symented. 1624 Heywood Gunaik. ii. 92 The pallace of Cyrus..the stones of which were simmented together with gold. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 80 Large stones..firmly cemented with lead and iron. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 24 Bricks..cemented with bitumen. |
b. transf. To unite as with cement; to cause to cohere firmly.
| 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 71 That the buds..may be fast cemented before frosts return. 1727 Swift City Shower, Dust cemented by the rain. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 190 The molten matter..cements the loose ashes and cinders into a compact mass. |
c. Alchemy. (See
cementing vbl. n.)
2. fig.| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. i. 48 How the feare of vs May Ciment their diuisions. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 677 The Common-wealth, which had been built and cemented with the blood of their Fathers and Kinred. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. ii. 39 The kingdoms of the Heptarchy..seemed to be firmly cemented into one state under Egbert. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. vi. 455 The alliance was cemented by a treaty of marriage. |
3. To apply cement to (a surface); to coat or line with cement, so as to make water-tight.
| 1886 Law Times LXXXI. 60/1 To cleanse, level, and cement the bottom of the pool. |
4. intr. (for
refl.). To cohere firmly by the application of cement; to stick.
| 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 259 Morter doth not Cement so strongly to the Bricks when it dries hastily. a 1709 Atkins Parl. & Pol. Tracts (1734) 191 Iron mixed with Clay, that can never cleave one to another, nor cement. 1739 Sharp Surg. (J.), [The parts of a wound] will..cement like one branch of a tree ingrafted on another. |
| fig. 1660 C. Bonde Scut. Reg. 368 So these knaves cemented together again, like a Snakes tail. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) V. lxvi. 47 The allies..were not likely to cement soon in any new confederacy. 1801 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 465 They will..cement and form one mass with us. |