1. [n]  an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity
2. [n]  a construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished; "self-confidence is not an endearing property"
3. [v]  attribute or credit to; "We attributed this quotation to Shakespeare"; "People impute great cleverness to cats"
4. [v]  decide as to where something belongs in a scheme; "The biologist assigned the mushroom to the proper class"

1. \At*trib"ute\ ([a^]t"tr[i^]*b[=u]t), v. t. [imp. & p.
   p. {Attributed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Attributing}.] [L.
   attributus, p. p. of attribuere; ad + tribuere to bestow. See
   {Tribute}.]
   To ascribe; to consider (something) as due or appropriate
   (to); to refer, as an effect to a cause; to impute; to
   assign; to consider as belonging (to).
         We attribute nothing to God that hath any repugnancy or
         contradiction in it.                     --Abp.
                                                  Tillotson.
         The merit of service is seldom attributed to the true
         and exact performer.                     --Shak.
   Syn: See {Ascribe}.
   

2. \At"tri*bute\, n. [L. attributum.]
   1. That which is attributed; a quality which is considered as
      belonging to, or inherent in, a person or thing; an
      essential or necessary property or characteristic.
            But mercy is above this sceptered away; . . . It is
            an attribute to God himself.          --Shak.
   2. Reputation. [Poetic]                        --Shak.
   3. (Paint. & Sculp.) A conventional symbol of office,
      character, or identity, added to any particular figure;
      as, a club is the attribute of Hercules.
   4. (Gram.) Quality, etc., denoted by an attributive; an
      attributive adjunct or adjective.
   

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.