open sesame
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
phrase
open up (especially referring to doors)
noun
Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
phrase
Alternative form of open sesame.
Example Sentences
- ""The blue topaz was bought by me, from the chieftain of the tribe to which Quacal belongs. It is an ‘open sesame’ to his favor.""
- "He who can read a true book aright has an open sesame to audiences with the great and wise of all time."
- "Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge."
- "When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society."
- "The hinges of the hall door were so stiff during Miss Magan’s tenancy, that Dr. Fleming, who as a cousin once ventured to visit the moneyed recluse, had to call at a neighbouring chemist’s for sweet oil ere he felt safe in crying ‘Open Sesame.’"
- "Thus, one by one, the gates have been thrown open. God’s providence is manifest. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” The fable of Aladdin before the cave, crying “Open Sesame!” has been realized; and by this circumstance a tremendous emphasis is put upon the great commission of the Master, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.”"
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!.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -