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

• Danaidean
  adjective

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Danaides

These fair maidens were the Danaides, daughters of Danaus, who had pledged his fifty daughters to the fifty sons of his brother Ægyptus.

From Myths of Greece and Rome Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art by Guerber, H. A. (H?l?ne Adeline)

Hence the proverbial phrase, Omnis res jam in vado est; like a swimmer who has reached the bottom 202 of the water: and Largitio fundum non habet, like the vessel of the Danaides.

From Döderlein's Hand-book of Latin Synonymes by Döderlein, Ludwig

Mrs. Smidgkin, Mrs. Smidgkin, are you aware that the rain pours outside like the tears of the Danaides on their wedding night?

From Semiramis and Other Plays Semiramis, Carlotta And The Poet by Dargan, Olive Tilford

Had I ever commenced filling the sieve of the Danaides, I should have time for nothing else.

From St. Elmo by Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)

To punish the forty-nine Danaides, Jupiter cast them into the outer darkness of Black Tartarus, where they were ever engaged in the hopeless task of pouring water into a sieve.

From Young Folks Treasury, Volume 2 (of 12) by Various