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• attic salt
  attic salt

  noun

  dry, delicate wit.
• Attic salt
  Attic salt

  noun

  refined incisive wit

attic salt

American  

noun

1. dry, delicate wit.

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Attic salt British  

noun

1. refined incisive wit

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Etymology

Origin of attic salt

First recorded in 1750–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

attic salt Attic salt

Between the acts, our two Greek statues criticised the audience in loud tones, and their remarks, seasoned with attic salt, afforded a peculiar supplement to the choir of Antigone.

From The Cross of Berny by Florence Fendall

Alas, if I had only taken the supposed rapidity of my progress with a grain of attic salt!

From Atlantic Classics by Various

There would not be enough attic salt in it to save it.

From Love, Life & Work Being a Book of Opinions Reasonably Good-Natured Concerning How to Attain the Highest Happiness for One's Self with the Least Possible Harm to Others by Elbert Hubbard

There is the attic salt which springs from the charm in the words, from the flash of wit, from the spirited and brilliant sally.

From Book of Wise Sayings Selected Largely from Eastern Sources by William Alexander Clouston

What he really needs is a pinch of Attic salt.

From Time Magazine Archive

Who for an epigram would try, nor fail, Puts Attic salt upon his verse's tail.

From A Century of Emblems by G. S. Cautley

He wittily described himself as "an Irish potato seasoned with Attic salt."

From A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John W. (John William) Cousin

They made a butt of him as it was; he felt he could never stand between them for a whole morning now, and have Attic salt put upon his wounds.

From Children of the Ghetto A Study of a Peculiar People by Israel Zangwill

If some of the potatoes were slightly burned and others a little raw, the occasion added a flavor better than Attic salt.

From Nature's Serial Story by Edward Payson Roe