‖ alumnus
(əˈlʌmnəs)
Pl. -i.
[L., = a foster-child; f. al-ĕre to nourish, with ending akin to Gr. -όµενος; cf. Vert-umnus, etc.]
The nurseling or pupil of any school, university, or other seat of learning. Also, a graduate or former student (chiefly U.S., esp. in pl.).
| 1645 Evelyn Diary (1827) I. 212 We saw an Italian comedy acted by their alumni before the Cardinals. 1696 Sewall Diary 12 Oct. (1878) I. 435 Lt. Govr...promised his Interposition for them, as become such an Alumnus to such an Alma Mater. 1823 J. & R. C. Morse Traveller's Guide 320 The number of alumni, that is, the number who have been educated at each college since its establishment. 1843 Hopkins in B. H. Hall College Words (1851) 7 So far as I know, the Society of the Alumni of Williams College was the first association of the kind in this country... It was formed September 5th, 1821. 1846 Lytton Lucretia x. (1853) 93 The poorer and less steady alumni of the rising school. 1872 W. Minto Eng. Lit. ii. ix. 598 An alumnus of Glasgow, and travelling tutor. 1890 Harper's Mag. Apr. 799/1 The associated alumni of a college organized into a club preserve..the old feeling of comradeship. |
| attrib. 1843 Hopkins in B. H. Hall College Words (1851) 8 Last year, for the first time, the voice of an Alumnus orator was heard at Harvard. 1851 Ibid., An Alumni Society was formed at Columbia College in the year 1829. 1895 Century Mag. Sept. 794/2 How often at an alumni banquet is intellectual supremacy in college life praised? 1906 Springfield (Mass.) Weekly Republ. 28 June 10 Tuesday was alumni day at Yale, when hundreds of old graduates..gathered in alumni hall. |