Aladdin’s Window.

To finish Aladdin’s Window—i.e. to attempt to complete something begun by a great genius, but left imperfect. The genius of the lamp built a palace with twenty-four windows, all but one being set in frames of precious stones; the last was left for the sultan to finish; but after exhausting his treasures, the sultan was obliged to abandon the task as hopeless.

Tait’s second part of Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel is an Aladdin’s Window.

previous entry · index · next entry

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Ajax
Ajax
Akbar
Akuan
Akuman
Alabama
Alabaster
Aladdin
Aladdin’s Lamp
Aladdin’s Ring
Aladdin’s Window
Aladine
Alako
Alans
Alarcon
Alarm
Alarum Bell
Alasnam
Alasnam’s Mirror
Alastor
Alauda