a town in Flanders, belonging to the house of Austria, seated on the river Dender, in the midway between Brussels and Ghent. It has but one parish; but the church is collegiate, and has a provost, a dean, and 12 canons. Here is a convent of Carmelites, another of Capuchines, another of barefooted Carmelites, three nunneries, an hospital, and a convent of Guillelmus, in which is the tomb of Theodore Martin, who brought the art of printing out of Germany into the Low Countries. He was the friend of Erasmus, and wrote his epitaph. Alost was taken and dismantled by Marshal Turenne in 1667; and after the battle of Ramillies in 1706, was abandoned to the allies. E. Long. 3° 56'. N. Lat. 49° 35'.