cement

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cement/sɪˈment/

▶noun

• 1 a powdery substance made by calcining lime and clay, used in making mortar and concrete.

  ■ concrete.

• 2 a soft glue that hardens on setting.

• 3 (also cementum) Anatomy a thin layer of bony material that fixes teeth to the jaw.

• 4 Geology the material which binds particles together in sedimentary rock.

▶verb fix with cement.

■ settle or establish firmly.

– derivatives
cementer noun,
cementitious adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. ciment (n.), cimenter (v.), from L. caementum ‘quarry stone’, from caedere ‘hew’.