Tantalus

[tan-tl-uhs]

noun

plural

Tantaluses 

1. Classical Mythology.,  a Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head: whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.

2. (lowercase),  a stand or rack containing visible decanters, especially of wines or liquors, secured by a lock.

Tantalus

¹

/ ˈtæntələs /

noun

1. Greek myth a king, the father of Pelops, punished in Hades for his misdeeds by having to stand in water that recedes when he tries to drink it and under fruit that moves away as he reaches for it

tantalus

²

/ ˈtæntələs /

noun

1. a case in which bottles may be locked with their contents tantalizingly visible

Tantalus

1. A king in classical mythology who, as punishment for having offended the gods, was tortured with everlasting thirst and hunger in Hades. He stood up to his chin in water, but each time he bent to quench his thirst, the water receded. There were boughs heavy with fruit over his head, but each time he tried to pluck them, the wind blew them out of reach.

Something is “tantalizing” if it is desirable but unattainable.

Example Sentences

Of course, “tantalizing” comes from Tantalus, the Greek mythological figure doomed to spend eternity with satisfaction just out of reach.

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He remembered the punishment of Tantalus, who’d been permanently stuck in a pool of water under a fruit tree but couldn’t reach either food or drink.

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But most writers said, and certainly with better reason, that it was the wickedness of Tantalus which doomed his descendants.

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Forbidden or disaster-laden touch has been thematically explored from the beginning of storytelling: think the apple of Eden, King Midas, Apollo and Daphne, Tantalus, Pygmalion and Thanatos myths, where touching can have calamitous consequences.

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But then the bureau’s offer is yanked away like something out of the Tantalus myth, or at least a Charles Schulz comic.

Read more on New York Times