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

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

The strange and weird legends of Tantalus, Sisyphus, Ixion, Prometheus, and the Danaides, have all one common feature about them.

From Practical Religion Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians by Ryle, John Charles

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

Before, in that dreaming time, I saw that I had drawn water like the Danaides, in a pitcher full of holes.

From The Boss of Little Arcady by Wilson, Harry Leon

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