Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A male graduate or former student of a school, college, or university.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A pupil; one educated at a school, seminary, college, or university; specifically, a graduate of any such institution.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A pupil; especially, a graduate of a college or other seminary of learning.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university)
Etymologies
- Borrowed from Latin alumnus (literally "foster child, nourished one"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin, pupil, from alere, to nourish; see al-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If it's kosher to interpret alumnaθ as a derivative of the Latin word alumnus/-a 'pupil', then it's certainly sounding like the funeral arrangements of Laris Pulena were somehow being taken care of by those of a temple-school, yes.”
“Fisher, a USC alumnus, is looking for a new offensive coordinator after losing Mike Heimerdinger to the New York Jets last month.”
USATODAY.com - Jeff Fisher eyeing USC's Chow to fill coordinator void
“Another “Amelie” alumnus is cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel who flawlessly mixes real photography and computer assistance.”
“The Purdue alumnus is the first player in NFL history to make the Pro Bowl as a cornerback, safety and kick returner.”
“Christianity in the social relations of master and slave is plain from the exceedingly small number of inscriptions containing the words servus (slave), or libertus (freedman), words which are constantly seen on pagan gravestones; the often recurring expression alumnus (foster-child) characterizes the new relation between the owner and the owned.”
“While the dictionary informs me that "alumnus" may indeed apply to someone who attended but did not graduate from a college, there might be a problem, in my case, even with "attended.”
The Washington Post: Cap and clown: Gene returns to his alma mater
“But with ISI's hand or at least that of its "alumnus" in the form of retired officers being seen, the analysis is that the army may be deeply involved in the plot.”
Opinion Source: Delivering summaries of editorial and op-ed pieces from major papers by email.
“An "alumnus" is a person who went to a school in the past.”
“Also, did you not see the word 'alumnus' in my post?”
“He graduated from Delhi University and is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alumnus’.
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Dramatic Nouns
Nouns to be used as descriptions while writing stories
night owl, early bird, hedonist, ascetic, derelict, explorer, radical, pity friend, cupid, truant, caretaker, guardian and 120 more...
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quality words
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
ineffable, septuagenarian, sesquipedalian, argyle, coalescence, profundity, vivisepulture, defenestrate, concatenate, usurp, diatribe, veracious and 461 more...
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good words
words that are mostly fun to say or just lovely
undulate, voluptuous, whimsy, parse, dank, cerulean, peen, traipsing, listless, coup de grace, reconnoiter, mercurial and 499 more...
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etymophily
Interesting gobbets of etymology
boudoir, down, sudoku, marijuana, venal, wedlock, decussate, dive, gloaming, coach, baptize, maroon and 13 more...
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Atinlay Asesphray
Latin is, for all intents and purposes, a dead language. Yet its ghost continues to haunt those of us who speak English.
caveat emptor, ad hoc, de facto, carpe diem, et cetera, habeas corpus, non sequitur, ad nauseam, persona non grata, amicus curiae, per se, a priori and 30 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for alumnus.
Prolagus You could start a list now, and whenever we find one we'll tell you and you'll decide what to do. Apr 20, 2009
qroqqa I've considered tagging or listing them, but I think it's too late; it'd require going through over a thousand comments and deciding which were significantly etymological in nature. Apr 20, 2009
rolig Qroqqa, do you have a list for these words where you contemplate their etymology? Apr 20, 2009
qroqqa Wondering about the etymology of this, I found it originally meant "foster-child", with the familiar Latin al- "nourish" of 'aliment', but the unrecognizable part was a suffix related to the Greek passive participle suffix -omenos, not normally used in Latin.
Then I was surprised to learn that 'old' is related, as are 'altitude', 'alma mater' ("nourishing/bounteous mother"), and probably 'adult' and 'proletariat'.
The Germanic 'old' is from a past participle of that same root al- "nourish, raise", and is thus formally equivalent to Latin altus. The Latin however shifted from "grown up" to "high, tall" generally to "distant from the surface, i.e. high, tall, deep".
Ad-ul-tus and pro-l-es ("class who contribute offspring") might also contain the al- root internally. Apr 20, 2009