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Ali Baba

[ ah-lee bah-bah, al-ee bab-uh ]
/ ˈɑ li ˈbɑ bɑ, ˈæl i ˈbæb ə /
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noun
the poor woodcutter, hero of a tale in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, who uses the magic words “Open sesame” to open the door to the cave in which the Forty Thieves had hidden their treasure.
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How to use Ali Baba in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Ali Baba

Ali Baba
/ (ˈælɪ ˈbɑːbə) /

noun
(in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments) a poor woodcutter who discovers that the magic words "open sesame" will open the doors of the cave containing the treasure of the Forty Thieves
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Ali Baba

Ali Baba
[ (ah-lee bah-buh, al-ee bab-uh) ]

The title character in “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” a story from the Arabian Nights. Ali Baba gains the treasure of the thieves, which they keep in a cave with a magical entrance.

notes for Ali Baba

Ali Baba opens the door of the thieves' cave with the magical password “Open, sesame.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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