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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

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 Hubbard, Elbert

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 Clouston, William Alexander

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

From Atlantic Classics by Various

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 Fendall, Florence

What he really needs is a pinch of Attic salt.

From Time Magazine Archive

Triumph swam in my father’s eyes, at the repartee—the Attic salt brought water into them—and so Obadiah heard no more about it.

From The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne, Laurence

Sergey Ivanovitch was unequaled in his skill in winding up the most heated and serious argument by some unexpected pinch of Attic salt that changed the disposition of his opponent.

From Anna Karenina by Garnett, Constance

Attic salt is always held to be more pungent when there is a touch of the diabolical and caustic in it,—and therefore caustic itself is known as lapis infernalis.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 3, March, 1862 by Various

The conversation of most I have met here is seasoned with a smack of mental ozone, Attic salt, which struck me as being rare among the tillers of California soil.

From Steep Trails California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, the Grand Canyon by Muir, John