Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Alma Mater \Al"ma Ma"ter\ [L., fostering mother.] A college or seminary where one is educated.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., Latin, literally "bountiful mother," a title Romans gave to goddesses, especially Ceres and Cybele, from alma, fem. of almus "nourishing," from alere "to nourish" (see old) + mater "mother" (see mother (n.1)). First used 1710 in sense of "one's university or school" in reference to British universities.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A school or college from which an individual has graduated or which he or she has attended. 2 A school's anthem or song.
WordNet
n. your alma mater is a school you graduated from
Wikipedia
Alma mater ( Latin: "nourishing/kind", "mother"; pl. [rarely used] ) is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. It is used to refer to a school which an individual has attended. In English, the phrase is variously translated as "nourishing mother", "nursing mother", or "fostering mother", suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students.
Before its modern usage, Alma mater was an honorific title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and later in Catholicism for the Virgin Mary. The source of its current use is the motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies") of the oldest university in the Western world in continuous operation: the University of Bologna, founded in 1088. It is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, and literally meaning a "nursling" or "one who is nourished".
The phrase also refers to a song or hymn associated with a school.
The "Alma Mater" is the official school song of Dartmouth College, an Ivy League college located in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Composed by Harry Wellman, class of 1907, it was officially adopted by the College in 1926. The difficult to sing "Dartmouth Undying" replaced it in the fall of 1972, but the Alma Mater was restored as the official song in early 1973. Richard Hovey of the class of 1885 wrote the original lyrics in 1894, titling the song "Men of Dartmouth". Traditionally the original second verse was only sung during time of war. On May 28, 1988, Dartmouth changed the title and words to reflect the presence of women as part of the College, since Dartmouth had become coeducational in 1972. Nicole Sakowitz, Dartmouth Glee Club President was the first person to conduct the new Alma Mater.
The 1988 transition generated significant controversy at the time from students and alumni wishing to maintain the original lyrics, attracting national attention. Although when the College's Board of Trustees adopted the new lyrics it specifically authorized alumni to continue using the original, and the new lyrics were designed to harmonize well with the original, the use of the original version by some fraternities and men's sports teams continues to fuel debate .
Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother". In many modern languages it is principally heard as a term of academia. It may also refer to the school or college from which an individual has graduated or which they have attended.
Alma mater may also refer to:
The alma mater is the generic title given to the official song or anthem of a school, college, or university.
The official song may be referred to as the alma mater of the school, college or university, and it may be understood by those who know, which song is referred to. It is not to be confused with a college's fight song, which is usually much more upbeat and used for a college's athletics programs. An alma mater is typically slow, light in instrumentation and with lyrics that wax nostalgic about the college's setting and affirm the singer's devotion to, and fondness for, the school.
A frequently used tune for these songs is “ Annie Lisle”.
Alma Mater is a role-playing game published by Oracle Games in 1982.
Alma Mater is a Christmas album by Pope Benedict XVI, released in 2009.
Alma Mater is the sole studio album by English band Stockholm Monsters, released in 1984 by record label Factory.
Alma Mater is a sculpture of the goddess Athena by Daniel Chester French which is located on the steps leading to the Low Memorial Library on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. Sculpted in 1903 and installed in 1904, it was donated in memory of alumnus Robert Goelet of the Class of 1860 by his wife, Harriette W. Goelet. Alma Mater The statue has become a symbol of the university.
An owl, a symbol of knowledge and learning, is hidden in the folds of Alma Mater's cloak near her left leg and college superstition has it that the first member of the incoming class to find the owl will become class valedictorian. The legend at another time was that any Columbia student who found the owl on his first try would marry a girl from Barnard.
In 1962 the statue was gilded, but the gilding was removed after protests. In the 1960s and 70s, the radical group the Weather Underground planned to blow up the statue, but these plans were shelved after three group members died in a Greenwich Village townhouse explosion instead.
The Alma Mater is a bronze statue by sculptor Lorado Taft, a beloved symbol of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The statue was removed from its site at the entrance to the university for restoration in 2012 and was returned to its site in the spring of 2014. The 10,000-pound statue depicts a mother-figure wearing academic robes and flanked by two attendant figures representing "Learning" and "Labor", after the University's motto "Learning and Labor." Sited at the corner of Green Street and Wright Street at the heart of campus, and the edge of Campustown, the statue is iconic for the university and a popular backdrop for student graduation photos. It is appreciated for its romantic, heraldic overtones and warmth of pose.
Alma Mater was a BBC Play for Today which was originally broadcast on 7 January 1971 and which was written by David Hodson. It was episode 11 in Season 1.
In the play civil servant Jimmy Nicholson ( Ian Carmichael) returns home after a long period working in the Middle East to visit his son at boarding school, the same school where he himself attended. It is the school's sports day, and old school grudges come flooding back.
The cast included Max Adrian, Hilda Braid, Nigel Hawthorne, Dinah Sheridan, Anthony Andrews and Christopher Reynalds.
No recording of this Play for Today is known to survive.
Usage examples of "alma mater".
And if he don't love his alma mater he should transfer out, that's what I say!
The unionized professors and the unionized support staff and the meccano the scientists and doctors demand, all cost megatons of money, and how does the Alma Mater get it?
Normally, Lurton would have regretted the invitation, but this was from Robert's alma mater.
But the thing which pleased him most, it seemed, was being invited to be a Forrestal Lecturer at his alma mater in 1972.
One at the French embassy, one at his alma mater, Georgetown University, one at the city workers' union hall, and-the most important, where he'd actually ring in the New Year-the African-American Teachers' Association in the heart of Southeast.
I'd enrolled in an advanced biology course at my old alma mater, Rutgers, but I hadn't attended a single class or handed in even one assignment.
On 5 April 1973 I delivered the James Forrestal Memorial Lecture to the Brigade of Midshipmen at my alma mater the United States Naval Academy.
The third is that he suffers from a sense of isolation from the centre of learning which he hopes to regard as his Alma Mater, and fancies that those students who are on the spot are gaining insights which are denied to him.
He had been sent there to recruit budding young scientists for his alma mater, the United States Military Academy at West Point.
In the brief time of his incumbency, I have no doubt that the shockingly public moral turpitude of the team has made a worse name for what I was once proud to claim as my Alma Mater than a lifetime of gridiron victories can possibly offset.
The VP was an alumnus, and although he didnt really need a filing clerk, he enjoyed being a benefactor to the students at his alma mater.
My parents may not have wanted me to come home, but my father, as ever good as his word, engineered by means of a hefty donation my acceptance to his alma mater, Yale University.
In the end, I decided on Middlemount, disappointing Phil, who had all but assumed since my acceptance at Princeton, his alma mater, that I would wind up there.
Perhaps I could write you a letter, it being my alma mater and all.