[v. uh-trib-yoot; n. a-truh-byoot] 
verb, -ut⋅ed, -ut⋅ing, noun | 1. | to regard as resulting from a specified cause; consider as caused by something indicated (usually fol. by to): She attributed his bad temper to ill health. |
| 2. | to consider as a quality or characteristic of the person, thing, group, etc., indicated: He attributed intelligence to his colleagues. |
| 3. | to consider as made by the one indicated, esp. with strong evidence but in the absence of conclusive proof: to attribute a painting to an artist. |
| 4. | to regard as produced by or originating in the time, period, place, etc., indicated; credit; assign: to attribute a work to a particular period; to attribute a discovery to a particular country. |
| 5. | something attributed as belonging to a person, thing, group, etc.; a quality, character, characteristic, or property: Sensitivity is one of his attributes. |
| 6. | something used as a symbol of a particular person, office, or status: A scepter is one of the attributes of a king. |
| 7. | Grammar. a word or phrase that is syntactically subordinate to another and serves to limit, identify, particularize, describe, or supplement the meaning of the form with which it is in construction. In the red house, red is an attribute of house. |
| 8. | Fine Arts. an object associated with or symbolic of a character, office, or quality, as the keys of St. Peter or the lion skin of Hercules. |
| 9. | Philosophy. (in the philosophy of Spinoza) any of the essential qualifications of God, thought and extension being the only ones known. Compare mode 1 (def. 4b). |
| 10. | Logic. (in a proposition) that which is affirmed or denied concerning the subject. |
| 11. | Obsolete. distinguished character; reputation. |
| at·trib·ute (ə-trĭb'yōōt) tr.v. at·trib·ut·ed, at·trib·ut·ing, at·trib·utes
[Latin attribuere, attribūt- : ad-, ad- + tribuere, to allot; see tribute.] at·trib'ut·a·ble adj., at·trib'ut·er, at·trib'u·tor n. Synonyms: These verbs mean to consider as resulting from or belonging to a person or thing. Attribute and ascribe, often interchangeable, have the widest application: The historian discovered a new symphony attributed to Mozart. The museum displayed an invention ascribed to the 15th century. |
attribute data
A named value or relationship that exists for some or all instances of some entity and is directly associated with that instance.
Examples include the href attribute of an HTML anchor element, the columns of a database table considered as attributes of each row, and the members (properties and methods of an object in OOP. This contrasts with the contents of some kind of container (e.g. an array), which are typically not named. The contents of an associative array, though they might be considered to be named by their key values, are not normally thought of as attributes.
(2001-02-04)
