Barmecide

American  

[bahr-muh-sahyd] / ˈbɑr məˌsaɪd /

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.

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adjective

1. Barmecidal.

Barmecide British  

/ ˈbɑːmɪˌsaɪd /

adjective

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

   a Barmecide feast

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Etymology

Origin of Barmecide

< Persian Barmekī family name, literally, offspring of Barmek, with -ide -id ¹ for Persian -ī < Arabic

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Barmecide

The latter piece, titled “The Barmecide Feast,” is well built — down to the corny Late Empire porcelains employed as backdrop on the luminous white set.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2017

Wouldst re-enact the Barmecide, And taunt our wretchedness With visioned feast, and song, and dance,— While, daily, our grim heritance Is famine and distress?

From The Baron's Yule Feast: A Christmas Rhyme by Thomas Cooper

Jaffar, the Barmecide, the good Vizier, The poor man's hope, the friend without a peer.

From The Children's Garland from the Best Poets by Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore

And so Schacabac lived with the Barmecide many years, and never again knew what it was to be hungry.

From Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin

Swearing at systems and ideas, as Hadria says, is a Barmecide feast to one’s vindictiveness.”

From The Daughters of Danaus by Mona Caird

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