E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Attics, Attic Storey.
Attics are the rooms in the attic storey, and the attic storey generally is an extra storey made in the roof. In the Roman and Renaissance styles of architecture the low storey above the cornice or entablature is called the “Attic.” Professor Goldstücker derives the word from the Sanskrit attaka (a room on the top of a house). (See The Transactions of the Philological Society, 1854.)
1
Attic storey. The head; the body being compared to a house, the head is the highest, or attic storey.
2
“Here a gentleman present, who had in his attic
More pepper than brains, shrieked: ‘The man’s a fanatic.’”
Lowell: Fable for Critics (stanza 50).
Ill furnished in the attic storey. Not clever, dull.
3
Queer in the attic storey. Fuddled, partially intoxicated.
