Barmecide feast

noun

Etymology

From a tale in the Arabian Nights in which a rich man serves a beggar an imaginary banquet; see Barmecide.

Definitions

  1. A meal with very little or no food

    • [H]e decided that his loved one was on the point of starvation. No human being, he held, could exist on such Barmecide feasts.
    • Arthur Rimbaud, in a hotel dining room where, though indulging in a Barmecide feast before empty plates and glasses, he evinces the most evident signs of gastronomic enjoyment.
  2. Something that promises much but delivers nothing

    Something that promises much but delivers nothing; an illusion.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA