Forms: 4 syment, 4–7 cyment, 7 ciment, simment, 7– cement. [f. prec. sb. Cf. F. cimenter.]
1. trans. To unite (solid bodies) with cement.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 9068. Alle manere of precyouse stanes sere, Cymented with gold.
c. 1400. Maundev., 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, Wks. 1755, III. II. 39.
| Sole coat, where dust cemented by the rain | |
| Erects the nap, and leaves a cloudy stain. |
1876. Huxley, Physiogr., 190. The molten matter … cements the loose ashes and cinders into a compact mass.
c. Alchemy. (See CEMENTING vbl. sb.)
2. fig.
1606. Shaks., 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 between their children.
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. S. Sharp, Surg., i. 1 (J.). They [the parts of a wound] will … cement like one Branch of a Tree ingrafted on another.
fig. 1660. 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.
