Alnaschar's Dream
Preserved but no longer current.
Counting your chickens before they are hatched. Alnaschar the barber's fifth brother (in the Arabian Nights story), invested all his money in a basket of glassware, on which he was to make a profit which, being invested, was to make more, and this was to go on till he grew rich enough to marry the vizier's daughter. Being angry with his imaginary wife he gave a kick, overturned his basket, and broke ail his wares.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Alnaschar's Dream” mean?
Counting your chickens before they are hatched. Alnaschar the barber's fifth brother (in the Arabian Nights story), invested all his money in a basket of glassware, on which he was to make a profit which, being invested, was to make more, and this was to go on till he grew rich enough to marry the vizier's daughter. Being angry with his imaginary wife he gave a kick, overturned his basket, and broke ail his wares.
Is “Alnaschar's Dream” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.