Open Sesame
WordNet
noun
(1) Any very successful means of achieving a result
(2) A magical command; used by Ali Baba
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Translating , in Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the Arabian Nights, apparently based on an oral source.
Noun
- Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
- 1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv,
- He who can read a true book aright has an open sesame to audiences with the great and wise of all time.
- 1963, William J. Palmer, Trial Tactics in California, page 57,
- Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge.
- 2001 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Sympathy for a devil”, in The Guardian,
- When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society.
- 1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv,