open sesame

Etymology

From its use in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, translating French Sésame, ouvre-toi in Antoine Galland's version of the Ali Baba story in the One Thousand and One Nights, possibly based on an oral Arabic source.

Phrase

open sesame!

1. open up! (especially referring to doors)

Noun

open sesame (plural open sesames)

1. Any successful means of achieving a result, especially means that are magical or technical, or otherwise beyond the understanding of most people.
   • 1905, John Ruskin, The Works of John Ruskin, page lv:

     He who can read a true book aright has an open sesame to audiences with the great and wise of all time.

   • 1963, William J. Palmer, Trial Tactics in California, page 57:

     Relevancy not always an open sesame having in mind the over-all authority and discretion of the trial judge.

   • 2001 September 24, Gareth McLean, “Sympathy for a devil”, in The Guardian:

     When Mussolini was a young chap, he dabbled with socialism, imagining it to be an open sesame to a better society.