English Explanatory Dictionary

open sesame

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. open up (especially referring to doors)
noun
  1. Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
phrase
  1. Alternative form of open sesame.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-open sesame.wav

Word forms

open sesame open, Sesame open sesames

Etymology

From its use in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, translating French Sésame, ouvre-toi in Antoine Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the One Thousand and One Nights, possibly based on an oral Arabic source. Not, as some have purported, a corruption of Open, says me!.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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