[L. alma māter bounteous mother.] A title given by the Romans to several goddesses, especially to Ceres and Cybele, and transferred in Eng. to Universities and schools regarded as ‘fostering mothers’ to their alumni.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. ii. (1495), 466. In signe and token of grete plente, a grete female ymage was made, and callyd Alma mater.
1718. Pope, Dunc., III. 338. Till Isis’ elders reel … And Alma Mater lye dissolv’d in port.
1803. Scott, in Lockhart, Life (1839), II. 126. The literary men of his Alma Mater.
1866. Carlyle, Inaug. Addr., 170. My dear old Alma Mater.
