Danaides

American  

[duh-ney-i-deez] / dəˈneɪ ɪˌdiz /

Also Danaidae

plural noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the 50 daughters of Danaus, 49 of whom were condemned to pour water forever into a leaky vessel for having murdered their husbands.

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Danaides British  

/ ˌdænɪˈɪdɪən, dəˈneɪɪˌdiːz, ˌdænɪəˈdiːən /

plural noun

1. the fifty daughters of Danaüs. All but Hypermnestra murdered their bridegrooms and were punished in Hades by having to pour water perpetually into a jar with a hole in the bottom

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Danaidean
  adjective

Example Sentences

The "fifty sisters" are the fifty Danaides, who, for slaying their husbands, were condemned to pour water forever into a vessel full of holes.

From Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Spenser, Edmund

He represents the punishment of the Danaides as a symbol of the incapacity of the human spirit to enjoy the natural charm of the recurring seasons of the year.

From The Roman Poets of the Republic by Sellar, W. Y.

Theology is truly the vessel of the Danaides.

From The System of Nature, Volume 2 by Holbach, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'

There is a similar fragment of Aeschylus, Danaides, also quoted by Athenaeus.

From Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Long, George

Then she trudged off to the railway station; and went home, like Sisyphus or the Danaides, to take up her apparently impossible task.

From Mrs. Thompson A Novel by Maxwell, W. B. (William Babington)