ATTIC

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Attic mean? 

• ATTIC (noun)
  The noun ATTIC has 4 senses:

1. floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage

2. the dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Attica and Athens and Ionia

3. informal terms for a human head

4. (architecture) a low wall at the top of the entablature; hides the roof

  Familiarity information: ATTIC used as a noun is uncommon.

• ATTIC (adjective)
  The adjective ATTIC has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to Attica or its inhabitants or to the dialect spoken in Athens in classical times

  Familiarity information: ATTIC used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATTIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

attic; garret; loft

Hypernyms ("attic" is a kind of...):

floor; level; storey; story (a structure consisting of a room or set of rooms at a single position along a vertical scale)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "attic"):

cockloft (a small loft or garret)

hayloft; haymow; mow (a loft in a barn where hay is stored)

Holonyms ("attic" is a part of...):

house (a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Attica and Athens and Ionia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Attic; Classical Greek; Ionic; Ionic dialect

Hypernyms ("Attic" is a kind of...):

Ancient Greek (the Greek language prior to the Roman Empire)

Derivation:

Attic (of or relating to Attica or its inhabitants or to the dialect spoken in Athens in classical times)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Informal terms for a human head

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

attic; bean; bonce; dome; noggin; noodle

Hypernyms ("attic" is a kind of...):

human head (the head of a human being)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(architecture) a low wall at the top of the entablature; hides the roof

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("attic" is a kind of...):

wall (an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure)

Domain category:

architecture (the discipline dealing with the principles of design and construction and ornamentation of fine buildings)

Holonyms ("attic" is a part of...):

entablature ((architecture) the structure consisting of the part of a classical temple above the columns between a capital and the roof)

• ATTIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to Attica or its inhabitants or to the dialect spoken in Athens in classical times

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Attic Greek

Pertainym:

Attica (the territory of Athens in ancient Greece where the Ionic dialect was spoken)

Derivation:

Attic (the dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Attica and Athens and Ionia)

 Context examples 

I followed still, up a very narrow staircase to the attics, and thence by a ladder and through a trap-door to the roof of the hall.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

For the rest, there was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle’s life in America.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could not bear to have her ten miles from me; and as for Pulvis Lodge, the attics are dreadful.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He assumed a mock extravagance, and went on: I am no attic singer, no ballroom warbler. And why? Because I am practical.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

She soon learned to think with respect of her own little attic at Mansfield Park, in that house reckoned too small for anybody's comfort.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

MY uncle’s house in Jermyn Street was quite a small one—five rooms and an attic.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He then led the way inside, and went over the whole building from basement to attic.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

While this attack lasted, the family lived in constant fear of a conflagration, for the odor of burning wood pervaded the house at all hours, smoke issued from attic and shed with alarming frequency, red-hot pokers lay about promiscuously, and Hannah never went to bed without a pail of water and the dinner bell at her door in case of fire.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine them.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been always locked up.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)