ATTIC • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Attic

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/ˈætɪk/ Listen

noun

Attic n.

(Arch.)

(a)

A low story above the main order or orders of a facade, in the classical styles; a term introduced in the 17th century. Hence:

(b)

A room or rooms behind that part of the exterior; all the rooms immediately below the roof.

An Athenian; an Athenian author.

adjective

Attic adj. Of or pertaining to Attica, in Greece, or to Athens, its principal city; marked by such qualities as were characteristic of the Athenians; classical; refined.

Attic base (Arch.), a peculiar form of molded base for a column or pilaster, described by Vitruvius, applied under the Roman Empire to the Ionic and Corinthian and "Roman Doric" orders, and imitated by the architects of the Renaissance.

Attic faith, inviolable faith.

Attic purity, special purity of language.

Attic salt, Attic wit, a poignant, delicate wit, peculiar to the Athenians.

Attic story. See Attic, n.

Attic style, a style pure and elegant.

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Etymology of 'Attic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Attic" Quotes from Famous Books

... enlightening passages in a letter consist of dots. She replies in a letter following the above: "But if it could be possible that you should mean to say you would show me. . . . Can it be? or am I reading this 'Attic contraction' quite the wrong way. You see I am afraid of the difference between flattering myself and being flattered . . . the fatal difference. And now will you understand that I should be too overjoyed to have revelations from the Portfolio . . . however ...

— Robert Browning • G. K. Chesterton

... tracery on the walls; So stony still the house From cellar to attic rings the shrill ...

— Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes - Volume II. • Walter de la Mare

... night she stacked all her textbooks away in an old trunk in the attic, locked it, and threw the key into the ...

— Anne Of Green Gables • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... the moon on our list we introduce for the sake of its sacred lesson. Pure religion is an Attic salt, which wise men use in all of their entertainments: a condiment which seasons what is otherwise insipid, and assists healthy digestion in the compound organism of man's mental and moral constitution. About seventy years since, a little tract was published, in which the writer imagined himself ...

— Moon Lore • Timothy Harley

... a large plantation with a large old farm house, built of logs and weatherboards, painted white. There were four rooms on the first floor, and there were also finished rooms on the second floor. An attic contained most of the clothes needed for the slaves. "Uncle Bert" in his own language says, "On Christmas each of us stood in line to get our clothes; we were measured with a string which was made by a cobbler. The material ...

— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - From Interviews with Former Slaves - Kentucky Narratives • Works Projects Administration

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