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Barmecide

[ bahr-muh-sahyd ]

noun

  1. a member of a noble Persian family of Baghdad who, according to a tale in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, gave a beggar a pretended feast with empty dishes.


adjective

Barmecide

/ ˈbɑːmɪˌsaɪd /

adjective

  1. lavish or plentiful in imagination only; illusory; sham

    a Barmecide feast

“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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of Barmecide1

< Persian Barmekī family name, literally, offspring of Barmek, with -ide -id 1 for Persian < Arabic
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Barmecide1

C18: from the name of a prince in The Arabian Nights who served empty plates to beggars, alleging that they held sumptuous food
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Example Sentences

A sort of Barmecide feast, but I assure you it is very nice with bread or crackers and butter.

Were the wit and poesy and knowledge the successive desserts, and bright gossip the sparkle of the Barmecide wine?

For a hungry guest to take this tantalization in good part, was the sure way to win the esteem of the noble Barmecide.

But if the "call" was a Barmecide call, there was another act open to the congregation which was not so.

They fed like school-boys home for Thanksgiving, in haste lest the present banquet, too good to be true, prove Barmecide.

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