(1) A characteristic. In a word processing application, an
underlined word would be said to have the underline attribute.
In database systems, a field can have various attributes. For
example, if it contains numeric data, it has the numeric
attribute.  (2) In database management systems, the term
attribute is sometimes used as a synonym for field.  (3) In DOS
systems, every file has a file attribute that indicate several
properties of the file. For example, they indicate whether the
file is read-only, whether it needs to be backed up, and whether
it is visible or hidden.  (4) A language construct that
programmers use to add additional information (i.e., metadata)
to code elements (e.g., assemblies, modules, members, types,
return values, and parameters) to extend their functionality.
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