(Latin: one that nourishes) Originally, an adopted or foster child, a child of the camp, native-born of a country; in post-Reformation times, a student who was adopted by the Alumnat, an institution endowed for the support and education of poor students; in modern use, a graduate of any institution of learning; in ecclesiastical usage, since the Council of Trent, a seminarian. Truth was regarded by the Greeks as an alumna of Attic philosophy.