subs. phr. (old).—Anything unique. [Properly = the phœnix.] Also ARABIAN-NIGHTS = the fabulous, the marvellous.
1605. SHAKESPEARE, Cymbeline, i. 7. She is alone the ARABIAN BIRD. Ibid. (1608), Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 2. 12. Oh Antony, oh thou ARABIAN BIRD.
1808. SYDNEY SMITH, Plymley’s Letters [Works (1859), II. 180. 2]. To cram him with ARABIAN-NIGHT stories about the Catholics.
