attic definition

English

Etymology

From the practice of decorating the top storey of building façades in the Attic architectural style. From French attique, from Latin atticus, from Ancient Greek Ἀττικός (Attikós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈætɪk/, [ˈæɾɪk]

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Noun

attic (plural attics)

1. The space, often unfinished and with sloped walls, directly below the roof in the uppermost part of a house or other building, generally used for storage or habitation.

   We went up to the attic to look for the boxes containing our childhood keepsakes.

   Synonym: loft

2. (slang) A person's head or brain.

   Synonym: upper storey

   • 1875, John Wight, Mornings at Bow Street (page 105)

     […] was a diminutive, forked-radish sort of a young man, very fashionably attired, or, as he would say, kiddily togg'd; and, though it was scarcely noon, he was rather queer in the attic; that is to say, not exactly sober.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Catti, tacit, ticat