attic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

attic

nounalso spelled Attic

/ˈætɪk/ · [ˈæɾɪk]

Etymology From the practice of decorating the top storey of building facades in the Attic architectural style. From French attique, from Latin atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós).

The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.

We went up to the attic to look for the boxes containing our childhood keepsakes.
In my Wonderland, I'm back on my Alice Back in my palace, I'm fly like Aladdin Serving my fans all my dope, 'cause they addicts Haters mad 'cause I'm on top like an attic And if it's beef then we're shooting sporadic Game is like Disney, my words are like magic2018, “Cash Maniac”, performed by Denzel Curry:

Architecture A storey or a parapet above the cornice of a classical façade, often decorated.

Slang A person's head or brain.

[…] was a diminutive, forked-radish sort of a young man, very fashionably attired, or, as he would say, kiddily togg'd; and, though it was scarcely noon, he was rather queer in the attic; that is to say, not exactly sober.1875, John Wight, Mornings at Bow Street, page 105:

Synonyms: garret, top floor
Derived terms: attic door, atticful, atticky, attic ladder, atticless, atticlike, squirrels in the attic, toys in the attic
Related terms: atelier

Attic

adj

Etymology From Latin Atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós), from some Pre-Greek demonym or toponym for Athens and its hinterland of Attica + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic: forming adjectives”). Equivalent to a modified and clipped Athens + -ic. Doublet of Atticus.

› Of or related to Attica, ancient Athens and…

Historical Synonym of Athenian, of or related to the culture of ancient Athens.

[…] Aeschylus here, as elsewhere, made himself the legislator of all Attic tragedy.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “I. Introduction”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 31:

Architecture Historical Of or related to ancient Athenian architecture.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Historical Of or related to Attic Greek.

Figuratively Marked by the qualities traditionally considered characteristic of the ancient Athenians: classical, refined.

, The distinction between the Attic and the Asiatic schools takes us back to antiquity. The former were regarded as concise and healthy, the latter as empty and inflated: […]1921, Quintilian, “Chapter X: Determination of Style”, in Harold Edgeworth Butler, transl., Instiutio Oratoria, page 611:

Derived terms: Attic base, Attic salt