open sesame
(ˈəʊp(ə)n ˈsɛsəmiː)
Also 9 open sesamum.
[See sesame.]
The magic words by which, in the tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the door of the robbers' cave was made to fly open; hence, any marvellous or irresistible means of securing immediate admission.
| [1793 Arab. Nts. IV. 125 [Ali Baba] went among the shrubs, and perceiving the door, he said, Open Sesame; and the door flew wide open.] 1826 Scott Diary 14 Sept. in Lockhart, A laudatory copy of French verses sent up the evening before by way of Open Sesamum, I suppose. a 1837 Mrs. Markham Hist. France xxxiii. (1855) 416 She tried that universal key, that open sesame, a bribe. 1882 Mrs. Oliphant Lit. Hist. Eng. I. 185 Genius was understood, and poetry a sort of ‘open Sesame’ to every noble door. |