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Glite Dictionary
Aladdin's lamp

Aladdin's lamp

1 7.4
A small magical lamp in the story that brings a genie to grant wishes
  • noun
  • Literature
translation icon : lámpara de Aladino
  • According to legend, rubbing Aladdin's lamp will release the genie who can fulfill your desires.

Examples

  • "I believe they can have Aladdin's lamp, a genie they can give a command to," said Trudeau.

    Blog text (30)

  • In the story, Aladdin discovered Aladdin's lamp and summoned a powerful genie.

  • Whenever someone finds Aladdin's lamp, they can have their wishes granted by the genie inside.

Surface Forms

Aladdin's lamp singular
Aladdin's lamps plural

Morphology

Aladdin's + lamp

The noun phrase is partly compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'Aladdin' as a name and 'lamp' will understand it denotes a lamp belonging to Aladdin. However, the culturally specific sense—that it is a magical, wish‑granting lamp with a genie—is not derivable from the constituents and requires prior folklore knowledge, so the meaning is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Aladdin's lamp comes from the famous story of Aladdin, where a person rubbed an old lamp and a genie appeared to 'grant wishes'. Because the lamp could make wishes come true, today Aladdin's lamp is used to mean something that can 'solve problems' or give you what you want.