[f. the prec. ppl. adj., which continued for some time to act as the pa. pple. of this, alongside of attributed. The poets down to Dryden and Scott show the pronunciation attribu·te or a·ttribute, as in the ppl. adj. and sb.]
I. As an external act.
1. To assign, bestow, give, concede, yield to any one, as his right (property, title, authority, worship, honor). arch. or Obs.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. 375. These two townes were attributed to Flaunders by reason of gage.
1537. Hen. VIII., in Strype, Cranmer (1694), App. 49. Whether this word Sacrament be, and ought to be, attribute to the Seven only?
1565. T. Randolph, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 184, II. 201. All honor that maye be attributed unto anye man by a wyf.
1620. Melton, Astrolog., 62. Idolatry is a Diuine Worship, attributted to Idols.
1771. Junius Lett., xlix. 255. The power of depriving the subject of his birthright [was] attributed to … the legislature.
b. To give or ascribe in assertion (praise or honor).
1563. Shute, Archit., F ij b. To whom vndoubtedly, the praise and commendation is chiefly to be attrybuted.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxii. § 15. What celsitude of honour Plinius Secundus attributeth to Trajan in his funeral oration.
2. To add to the representation of a personage, the conventional symbolic ‘attribute.’ rare.
1756. J. Warton, Ess. Pope (1782), I. ii. 25. The trite and obvious insignia of a river God are attributed.
II. As a mental act.
3. To ascribe to as belonging or proper; to consider or view as belonging or appropriate to.
1538. Starkey, England, 45. In the felycyte of man you put dyverse degres, to some attrybutyng more, and to some les.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 836. God attributes to place No sanctity, if none be thither brought By men.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. xxiv. 409. They … attribute the Highest place to that which is divine.
1832. Lewis, Use & Ab. Pol. Terms, Introd. 6. A sense is attributed to them which was never intended.
† 4. To attribute (much), etc.: to ascribe great importance to, to hold in high estimation. Obs.
1586. Lett. to Earle Leycester, 32. I attribute not so much to mine owne iudgement.
1611. Bible, Pref., 4. Epiphanius … doeth attribute so much vnto it [the LXX], that he holdeth the Authours thereof … for Prophets.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 565. Attributing overmuch to things Less excellent. Ibid., IX. 320. Eve, who thought Less attributed to her Faith sincere.
5. To ascribe as a quality or ‘attribute’ belonging, proper or inherent. (To attribute wisdom to one = to hold that he is wise.)
1534. More, Answ. Pois. Bk., Wks. 1121/1. To attribute to hys manhed yt property which onely is appropried to his godhed, is to confounde bothe ye natures in Christ.
1611. Bible, Job i. 22. In all this Iob sinned not, nor charged God foolishly [marg. attributed folly to God].
1638. Wilkins, New World, I. (1684), 172. Such a strange Efficacy in the Bread of the Eucharist, as their Miraculous Relations do Attribute to it.
1862. Mill, Utilit., 42. The sort of mystical character which … is apt to be attributed to the idea of moral obligation.
6. To ascribe, impute, or refer, as an effect to the cause; to reckon as a consequence of.
1530. Palsgr., 440/1. I attrybute, I ascrybe the cause of a mater to one cause or other, J’attribue.
1626. Dk. Buckhm., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 329, III. 234. I cannot attribute this honour to any desert in me.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 39. To the deluge he attributed the changes of the earth.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vi. § 1 (1882), 268. The shrivelled arm of Richard the Third was attributed to witchcraft.
7. To ascribe to an author as his work.
1599. Thynne, Animadv., 15. [They] whiche attribute that choyse of armes to Chaucer.
1628. Prynne, Cens. Cozens, 29. Others attribute the inuention of them to St. Hierome.
1728. Newton, Chronol. Amended, i. 86. The people of the Island Corcyra attributed the invention of the Sphere to Nausicaa.
1816. Singer, Hist. Cards, 157. To Gutenberg … we are inclined to attribute that which is said to be in the characters afterwards used by Albert Pfister at Bamberg.
1854. (title) Edward III: a Play attributed to Shakespeare.
8. To assign in one’s opinion to its proper time or place.
1567. Triall Treas. (1850), 27. To the ende he semeth to attribute that thing When men be asociate with treasures celestiall.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 75. They attribute the birth of the Muses in the wood Helicon.
1875. Scrivener, Lect. Grk. Test., 12. Several copies which may fairly be attributed to the fourth century.
† 9. With complement: To allow any one the ‘attribute’ of; to hold him to be.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch. Hen. IV., 192. When a Naturall Motley makes a Hood Vnto a Man, wee attribute him wise.
