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

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

Nevertheless, for three consecutive hours, I witness this strange sight: the Bee, full of active zeal for the task in hand, omits to plug this vessel of the Danaides.

From The Mason-Bees by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

It is the vessel of the Danaides; for it there is no highest good, no absolute good, but always a merely temporary good.

From The World As Will And Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Schopenhauer, Arthur

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

Then she trudged off to the railway station; and went home, like Sisyphus or the Danaides, to take up her apparently impossible task.

From Mrs. Thompson A Novel by Maxwell, W. B. (William Babington)