| 释义 |
Tantalus|ˈtæntələs|
Also anglicized 4 Tantale, Tantaly, 7 Tantall.
[L., a. Gr. τάνταλος.]
1. Name of a mythical king of Phrygia, son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto, condemned, for revealing the secrets of the gods, to stand in Tartarus up to his chin in water, which constantly receded as he stooped to drink, and with branches of fruit hanging above him which ever fled his grasp; a rock is also said to have hung over him threatening to fall. Hence allusively.
c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 709, I haue more sorowe than Tantale. 1390Gower Conf. II. 139 Ther is a peine..Benethe in helle, which men calle The wofull peine of Tantaly. 1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 396 As the Apples that hang at Tantalus nose. 1599Hakluyt Voy. (1809) 642 He gathereth fruits as they say, out of Tantalus his garden. 1738Gray Propertius iii. 89 The long thirst of Tantalus allay. 1767B. Thornton tr. Plautus, Miser v. vi, The masters of our age..I call them Gripe-alls, Harpies, Tantalusses. 1835Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xlvii. 610 It was now long since it had been but the water of Tantalus. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xliii. (1856) 397 It seems like our cup of Tantalus: we are never to reach it. 1897Westm. Gaz. 21 July 7/2 It serves as a veritable tantalus to the market.
2. Usu. with lower-case initial. A stand containing usually three cut-glass decanters which, though apparently free, cannot be withdrawn until the grooved bar which engages the stoppers is raised.
1888G. Grossmith Society Clown 178, I sent him a small souvenir in the shape of a ‘Tantalus’. 1898To-Day 5 Nov. 1/2 He crossed to a recess, and touched the spring of a tantalus. It flew back with a harsh click. 1904Strand Mag. Mar. 246/2 A tantalus containing brandy and whiskey. 1904Daily News 30 Aug. 8 The winner of the sack race received a two-bottle tantalus.
3. Ornith. A genus of storks, including T. ibis (formerly erroneously identified with Ibis religiosa of Egypt); the wood stork or wood ibis.
1824Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. XII. 1 The Tantali in many respects resemble the Storks. Ibid. 2 The White-headed or Ceylonese Tantalus, is the largest of the genus. 1827R. Jameson tr. Cuvier's The. Earth 313 M. Macé also sent us a tantalus. Ibid., The Tantalus ibis of naturalists. 1896List Animals Zool. Soc. 423 American Tantalus. Ibid. 424 African Tantalus..Indian Tantalus.
4. attrib. and Comb., as tantalus-draught; tantalus-like adj.; tantalus-case, -stand = sense 2; tantalus-cup: see quot. 1842; also fig.
1601R. Yarington Two Lament. Trag. v. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Yet Tantall-like, he shall but glut his eye Nor feede his body with salubrious fruite. 1842Brande Dict. Sc., etc., Tantalus's cup, a philosophical toy which amusingly exhibits the principle of the siphon... The legs of the siphon are concealed by the hollow figure of a man whose chin is on a level with the bend of the siphon; so that the figure stands like Tantalus in the fable,—up to the chin in water, but unable to quench his thirst. a1850Marg. F. Ossoli Life Without & Within (1860) 30 Tantalus-like, he makes this world a Tartarus. 1884Rider Haggard Dawn vii, No misadventure came to mock them, dashing the Tantalus cup of joy to earth before their eyes. 1899Doyle Duet viii. (1909) 46/2 The Tantalus spirit-stand stood upon the walnut sideboard. 1905Daily Chron. 11 July 7/1 Presents, including..a tantalus case, a diamond pin, and other trifles. 1908Edin. Rev. July 101 The Tantalus-draught escaped his thristy lips. |