Ali Baba
noun/ˈælɪˌbɑbə/
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.
1
Slang An extremely lucky person, especially one who acquires a large fortune by luck or by chance.
3
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.
- 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:
- 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:
2 more examples
- 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:
- 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: