A garret is generally synonymous in modern usage with a habitable attic

Attic

An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...

 or small (and possibly dismal or cramped) living space at the top of a house. It entered Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 via Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 with a military connotation of a watchtower or something akin to a garrison, in other words a place for guards or soldiers to be quartered in a house. Like garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 it comes from an Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 word garir of ultimately Germanic

Germanic languages

The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...

 origin meaning to provide or defend.

See also

• Garratt
  Garratt
  A Garratt is a type of steam locomotive that is articulated in three parts. Its boiler is mounted on the centre frame, and two steam engines are mounted on separate frames, one on each end of the boiler. Articulation permits larger locomotives to negotiate curves and lighter rails that might...
  
  , a type of steam locomotive
• Garet
  Garet
  Garet may refer to:* Garet, character in Golden Sun role-playing games* Garet Garrett , an American journalist* Garet Jax, a fictional character* Jedd Garet , an American sculptor...
  
   (disambiguation (person))
• Garett (disambiguation (person))
• Garrett
  Garrett
  -Places:United States* Garrett, Illinois* Garrett, Indiana* Garrett, Pennsylvania* Garrett, Texas* Garrett, Washington* Garrett, Wyoming* Garrett County, Maryland-Other uses:...
  
  (disambiguation)
• Garret, A boy's name