Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AD'JEC-TIVE, n.

In grammar, a word used with a noun, to express a quality of the thing named, or something attributed to it, or to limit or define it, or to specify or describe a thing, as distinct from something else. It is called also an attributive or attribute. Thus, in the phrase, A wise ruler, wise is the adjective or attribute, expressing a particular property of ruler.