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

Theology is truly the vessel of the Danaides.

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

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

The fifty daughters of Danaus, known as "the Danaides," were punished in Hades for their crime by being compelled everlastingly to pour water into a sieve.

From The History of the Ten "Lost" Tribes Anglo-Israelism Examined by Baron, David

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)

We seemed in those infernal regions to repeat the toil of the Danaides, and to be attempting to fill the leaky vessel of society by efforts which left it as empty as before.

From The Dangerous Classes of New York And Twenty Years' Work Among Them by Brace, Charles Loring