| 释义 |
Sisyphean, a.|sɪsɪˈfiːən|
Also 7 Sysiphæan, 9 Sisyphæan, Sysyphean.
[f. L. Sīsyphēius, ad. Gr. σῑσύϕειος, f. σίσυϕος Sisyphus, the name of a king of Corinth, whose punishment in Hades was to roll a heavy stone up a hill; as he reached the top, the stone rolled down again.]
Of or pertaining to Sisyphus; like (that of) Sisyphus; resembling the fruitless toil of Sisyphus; endless and ineffective.
1635Quarles Embl. iii. xv, I barter sighs for tears, and tears for grones, Still vainly rolling Sisyphean stones. 1646G. Daniel Poems Wks. (Grosart) I. 11 Thus I roll Sisyphean Stones, and play (Which he can never) all my time away. 1858N. J. Gannon O'Donoghue, etc. 53 Without this magic bond no power on earth Can raise the ponderous Sysyphean stone. 1871Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 41 The Sisyphean toil of rolling the clammy balls. 1895Kidd Soc. Evol. ix. 245 Do we only see therein humanity condemned to an aimless Sisyphean labour? |