alma mater


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alma mater

1. The school that one attended. One typically only uses the term after graduating from the school. I am visiting my alma mater this weekend, and I hope that some of my old professors are still there. Your alma mater did not fare so well in the big game! Your mother is thrilled that you've decided to go to her alma mater.
2. A school's official song. In high school, we had to memorize the words to our alma mater. They play the alma mater every year at graduation. Do any of you guys remember how the Villanova alma mater goes? I don't.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

alma mater

Also, Alma Mater. The school or college one attended and, usually, graduated from, as in During football season I always check to see how my alma mater is doing. This expression sometimes refers to the institution's official song, as in I never did learn the words to my college's alma mater. The term is Latin for "kind mother." [c. 1800]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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