Attic adj : of or relating to Attica or its inhabitants or to the dialect spoken in Athens in classical times; "Attic Greek"

1 floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof; often used for storage [syn: loft, garret]

2 the dialect of Ancient Greek spoken and written in Attica and Athens [syn: Classical Greek]

3 informal terms for a human head [syn: bean, bonce, noodle, noggin, dome]

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

see Attic

English

Etymology

From the practice of decorating the top storey of building façades in the Attic architectural style.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Noun

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.

Translations

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building (also called garret, loft or sky parlor). As attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and most often a slanted roof, they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-access corners. While some attics are converted as bedrooms or home offices, complete with windows and staircases, most attics remain hard to get to and neglected, and are typically used for storage. Attics can also help control temperature in a house by providing a large mass of unmoving air. Hot air rising from lower floors of a building often gets trapped in the attic, further compounding their reputation for inhospitability. However in recent years many attics have been insulated to help decrease heating costs.

In some places attic is used more specifically to apply to lofts which have boarded floors and ceilings, and usually windows or skylights, and then loft is kept to mean a dark, unboarded roof-space which lacks these features.

See also

• Hayloft
• Attic ladder
• Basement

References

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