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Vinony

alum

noun

  1. family of double sulfate salts of monovalent and trivalent cations
L316206 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˈlʌm/ / /ˈæl.əm/

noun

Etymology: Clipping of alumnus and alumna (> alumn- > alum), by the removal of the originally Latin gender-specific nominative singular case endings -us (masculine) and -a (feminine).

  1. A past attendee or graduate (of any gender) of a college, university or other educational institution.

    “1961 Spring, Anchora of Delta Gamma, Volume LXXVII, No. 3, page 59, Evanston-North Shore alums are happy to open their homes to Sigma actives for special social events.”

    “You'll remember that we're starting with a list of slightly over 7,000 names that are alums (most of them over 50) that we'd like to whittle down to a manageable list of prospects.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English alum, alum, alym, alyme, from Anglo-Norman alum, alun, from Latin alūmen.

  1. To steep in, or otherwise impregnate with, a solution of alum; to treat with alum.

    “The silk should be boiled at the rate of 20 parts of soap per cent. , and then alumed. The aluming need not be so strong as for the fine crimson”

    “After drying, the cloth was alumed and finally dyed.”