Barmacide feast love

Barmacide feast

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun idiomatic Something that appears highly desirable, but proves to be imaginary, illusory and ultimately very disappointing.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Derives from a story (The Story of the Barber's Sixth Brother) of a hungry beggar invited by a Barmacide (Barmakids) prince to a banquet, which proved a long succession of merely empty dishes, and which he enjoyed with such seeming gusto and such good-humour as to earn for himself a sumptuous real one.

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