noun the part of a building, especially of a house, directly under a roof; garret.
a room or rooms in an attic.
a low story or decorative wall above an entablature or the main cornice of a building.
Anatomy the upper part of the tympanic cavity of the ear.
Origin of attic First recorded in
1690–1700; special use of
Attic adjective of, relating to, or characteristic of Greece or of Athens.
(often lowercase ) displaying simple elegance, incisive intelligence, and delicate wit.
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noun the dialect of ancient Attica that became the standard language of Classical Greek literature in the 5th and 4th centuries b.c.
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Origin of Attic 1555–65; < Latin Atticus < Greek Attikós
Related forms non-At·tic , adjective, noun Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for attic Contemporary Examples of attic She would periodically show up at the house and stay in the attic , where she hung beads and burned incense.
My bedroom was square and yellow and brand-new; this one was an attic with a gray-blue wall curling into its ceiling.
It might be on a closet shelf or perhaps in the attic , wrapped tightly in thick twine.
It comes out of the drawer, the attic , the trunk of your car with the first tease of spring.
Remember when “the madwoman in the attic ” was more than just a metaphor for the female imagination?
Historical Examples of attic This time, however, he sat down in the attic and began to read it.
Between one and two in the morning our driver descended from his attic .
Never mind; give it all the same; the picture will be of use, and we will adorn our attic with it.
His Uncle William was in the kitchen when he descended the stairs from the attic .
Then he too went up the ladder, and found himself with the others in an attic .
British Dictionary definitions for attic noun a space or room within the roof of a house
architect a storey or low wall above the cornice of a classical façade
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Word Origin for attic C18: special use of Attic from the use of Attic-style pilasters to adorn the façade of the top storey
adjective of or relating to Attica, its inhabitants, or the dialect of Greek spoken there, esp in classical times
(often not capital) classically elegant, simple, or pure an Attic style
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noun the dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Athens: the chief literary dialect of classical Greek See also Aeolic , Arcadic , Doric , Ionic Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for attic adj. 1590s, "pertaining to Attica," from Latin Atticus , from Greek Attikos "Athenian, of Attica," the region around Athens (see Attica ). Attested from 1560s as an architectural term for a type of column base.
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n. "top story under the roof of a house," 1855, shortened from attic storey (1724). The term Attic order in classical architecture meant a small, square decorative column of the type often used in a low story above a building's main facade, a feature associated with the region around Athens (see Attic ). The word then was applied to "a low decorative facade above the main story of a building" (1690s in English), and it came to mean the space enclosed by such a structure. The modern use is via French. attique . "An attic is upright, a garret is in a sloping roof" [Weekley].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
n. The upper portion of the tympanic cavity above the tympanic membrane that contains the head of the malleus and the body of the incus. epitympanum
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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