Tăn'ta-lŭs, n.

noun

Tăn'ta-lŭs, n. [Lat., Gr. Τάνταλος.]

(Myth.) A Phrygian king who was condemned to be plunged in water, with choice fruits hanging over him, without the power of reaching them to satisfy his hunger or his thirst.
(Ornith.) A genus of wading birds, including the wood-pelican or ibis, a bird of the size of a stork, but more slender, inhabiting marshes and feeding on reptiles.

Tantalus's cup, a philosophical toy, consisting of a cup, within which is the figure of a man, and within the figure a siphon, the longer arm of which passes down through the bottom of the cup, and allows the escape of any liquid that may be poured in, when it reaches as high as the bend of the siphon.

An engraving of a long-legged wading bird standing among reeds beside the water.

A diagram of Tantalus's cup, showing water in the bowl and a siphon inside the vessel. — Tantalus's Cup.