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Definition of genie noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

genie

noun
 
/ˈdʒiːni/
 
/ˈdʒiːni/
(plural genies, genii
 
/ˈdʒiːniaɪ/
 
/ˈdʒiːniaɪ/
)
Idioms
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  1. (in Arabian stories) a spirit with magic powers, especially one that lives in a bottle or a lamp synonym djinn
    Word Originmid 17th cent. (denoting a guardian or protective spirit): from French génie, from Latin genius ‘attendant spirit present from one's birth, innate ability or inclination’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’. Génie was adopted in the current sense by the 18th-cent. French translators of The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, because of its resemblance in form and sense to Arabic jinnī ‘jinnee’.
Idioms
let the genie out of the bottle
  1. to do something that has a big effect and after which it is very difficult or impossible to go back to how things were before
    • When guns were invented, the genie was let out of the bottle.
    This idiom can be expressed in various different ways. Other versions include the genie is out of the bottle and opposite form put the genie back in the bottle. Many people realized the genie was out of the bottle and that free music and movie downloads were here to stay. • The world has failed to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle.
See genie in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
Check pronunciation: genie

Nearby words

trait
noun
 
 
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