Ali Baba en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈælɪˌbɑbə/
- audio -
Etymology
From Arabic علي بابا. The use of Ali Baba to designate a type of container originates from the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (see the use as proper noun below), suggesting the appearance of the oil jars in which the thieves hide in the story.
Meanings
- (slang) An extremely lucky person, especially one who acquires a large fortune by luck or by chance.
- (US, ethnic, slang, slur) An Iraqi.
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(attributive) A large container, such as a jar or a basket, with a flat base and usually a rounded body that tapers to a narrower neck.
We found little piles in the oddest places - the oddest being within an Ali Baba jar some six feet high.
2004 May 11, Sgt Len Scott RAPC, “My Billets in Algiers: A Pub, a Casino and a Bank”, in BBC, retrieved 16 Apr 2023:And don’t forget to put your dirty clothes in the Ali Baba.
2003, Nigel Slater, “Duckling à l’orange”, in Toast, Fourth Estate, published 2010, →ISBN:Behind what looked like—but surely couldn't be—an oversized Ali Baba laundry basket dribbling earth and pebbles over the floor, peeped a save.
2020, Marchell Abrahams, chapter 7, in Angels at Twenty Past, Troubador Publishing, →ISBN:Towering over all these are the huge Ali Baba baskets, square at the bottom, round at the top, and fitted with square covers that pull down like a Dutch smoker's cap.
2009, Martha Reinhard Smallwood Field [Catherine Cole, pseud.], The Story of the Old French Market, ca. 1916, no pagination, quoted in Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Indian Work: Language and Livelihood in Native American History, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 101:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ali Babas | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (30)
mr अली बाबा (a fictional character) · mk Алибаба (a fictional character) · fr Ali Baba (a fictional character) · cs Alibaba (a fictional character) · eo Ali Babo (a fictional character) · th อาลีบาบา (a fictional character) · hy Ալի-Բաբա (a fictional character) · is Alí Baba (a fictional character) · hi अली बाबा (a fictional character) · mk Али Баба (a fictional character) · ru Али́-Баба́ (a fictional character) · da Ali Baba (a fictional character) · fa علی بابا (a fictional character) · pt Ali Babá (a fictional character) · tr Ali Baba (a fictional character) · ja アリババ (a fictional character) · ug ئەلى بابا (a fictional character) · ar عَلِيّ بَابَا (a fictional character) · bn আলী বাবা (a fictional character) · ur علی بابا (a fictional character) · tg Алибобо (a fictional character) · pl Ali Baba (a fictional character) · ka ალი ბაბა (a fictional character) · ko 알리바바 (a fictional character) · it Alì Babà (a fictional character) · el Αλί Μπαμπά (a fictional character) · el Αλή Μπαμπά (a fictional character) · cmn 阿里巴巴 (a fictional character) · he עלי באבא (a fictional character) · es Alí Babá (a fictional character)