Word
alum
/ˈæɫəm/
Definitions
01former student
n. a person who used to attend or graduated from a specific school or university.
n. an informal clipping of alumnus or alumna, referring to a former student or graduate of an educational institution.
“As a famous alum of this college, she was invited to give a speech.”
“The university's annual fundraising gala relies heavily on the generosity of its successful alums who wish to give back to their departments.”
American English · Informal
Usage
Commonly used as a gender-neutral singular or plural form in casual contexts.
Antonyms
02chemical salt
n. a white mineral salt used in things like medicine, dyeing cloth, or making pickles.
n. a specific double sulphate of potassium and aluminium, or a similar compound, used as an astringent or mordant.
“The recipe for these crispy pickles calls for a small amount of alum.”
“In traditional dyeing processes, alum is frequently employed as a mordant to help the pigment bond permanently with the fabric fibres.”
Technical
Usage
Uncountable when referring to the substance generally; countable when referring to specific chemical varieties.
Synonyms
03to treat with chemicals
v. to treat something with alum, usually to prepare it for dyeing or tanning.
v. to steep in or impregnate a material with a solution of alum.
“The leather was alumed to prepare it for the tanning process.”
“The textile conservator carefully alumed the silk samples to ensure the new dyes would take evenly across the historical reconstruction.”
Technical
Usage
A transitive verb primarily used in industrial or historical chemistry contexts.
Real-World Examples
“Many said they didn't negotiate because they didn't want to "damage this new relationship."
Upper-class graduates generally negotiated only a slight pay bump—about $6,450 higher than their fellow alums.” Etymology
From Middle English alum, alum, alym, alyme, from Anglo-Norman alum, alun, from Latin alūmen.
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).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/alum