cæment

Noun

cement (countable and uncountable, plural cements)

1. 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
2. (uncountable) The paste-like substance resulting from mixing such a powder with water, or the rock-like substance that forms when it dries.
3. (uncountable) Any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
4. (figuratively) A bond of union; that which unites firmly, as persons in friendship or in society.
   • the cement of our love
5. The layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; cementum.

See all 11 meanings of cement