tantalize: [16] The verb tantalize was inspired by the sad story of Tantalus, a mythical king of Phrygia in the ancient world. He had displeased the gods in some way (versions differ as to how, the commonest being that he had stolen their food), and as a punishment he was condemned to stand for ever in water up to his chin, while overhead hung boughs laden with fruit: whenever he stooped to drink, the water disappeared, and when he tried to reach the fruit, the wind blew it away. The term tantalus, coined in the 19th century for a lockable decanter stand whose contents can be seen but not got at, preserves the same idea.
tantalize (v.)
1590s, with -ize + Latin Tantalus, from Greek Tantalos, king of Phrygia, son of Zeus, father of Pelops and Niobe, punished in the afterlife (for an offense variously given) by being made to stand in a river up to his chin, under branches laden with fruit, all of which withdrew from his reach whenever he tried to eat or drink. His story was known to Chaucer (c. 1369). Related: Tantalized; tantalizing; tantalizingly; tantalization.
双语例句
1. The boy would come into the room and tantalize the dog with his feed.
那个男孩会到房间里拿狗食逗弄狗。
来自辞典例句
2. Give the dog the bone do not tantalize him.
把那块骨头给那条狗吧--别让它干着急了.
来自互联网
3. Give the dog the bone don't tantalize him.
把那块骨头给那条狗吧--别让它乾着急了.
来自互联网
4. They make use the opportunity and tantalize the appetite by pointing the difficulty of satisfaction.
政治家利用别人的匮乏状态,用制造困境来刺激这些人的欲望.
来自互联网
5. It's not her purpose to tantalize that guy, he is too bananas, not her type.
