the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. A cerecloth used for the special purpose of enveloping a dead body when embalmed.
n. Any shroud or wrapping for the dead.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. Cloth dipped in melted wax and used in wrapping dead bodies when they are embalmed; hence, any grave-cloth; in the plural, grave-clothes in general.
n. The under-cover of an altar-slab.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
Word Usage
""cerement," the cloth dipped "in melting wax, in which dead bodies were enfolded when embalmed" (_Hamlet_, act i.sc. 4), but the sense of the passage seems rather to point to "cerecloth," "searcloth," a plaster to cover up a wound."