TANTALIZE

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Dr. Goodword
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TANTALIZE

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon May 09, 2005 11:44 pm

• tantalize •

Pronunciation: tæn-(t)êl-ayz • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: To tease by offering something that is kept just out of reach of the one it is offered to.

Notes: This Good Word comes from a large and happy family. The process noun is tantalization and the present participle, tantalizing, has become an adjective with all of an adjective's capacities, i.e. more tantalizing, most tantalizing, very tantalizing, including an adverb, tantalizingly. The person who engages in this occupation is a tantalizer.

In Play: This word refers to a special kind of teasing in which something is promised or offered, then almost but not quite given: "Bette Noire tantalizes Phil Anders with her sexiness just enough to keep him buying her dinner." Remember, you cannot be tantalized by anything that you actually get or can get immediately: "The tantalizing contours of the new Jaguar roadster drove Rod Thrower to levels of frugality he hadn't known were possible."

Word History: Today's word came from the name of Tantalos, a mythical king of Phrygia (Greece), son of Zeus. For airing the gods' dirty laundry, Tantalos was condemned to stand in water that dropped when he nodded to drink beneath fruit hanging above him that rose when he tried to bite it. His name comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *telê-/*tolê- "lift, support, weight". The stem of Atlas, the name of the Titan supporting the world according to Greek mythology, is Atlant-, also the stem of Atlantis. Since *telê-/*tolê- had a variant without a vowel, *tlê-, we might expect Atlas to be related. However, a-tlê- would imply "no lift, no support" since a- is a negative prefix, so this origin is dubious (though it might fit Atlantis). (We thank Tim Ward of our Agora, whose 100th member signed up yesterday, for suggesting today's tease of a word.)
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M. Henri Day
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Re: TANTALIZE

Postby M. Henri Day » Wed May 11, 2005 9:45 am

...

(We thank Tim Ward of our Agora, whose 100th member signed up yesterday, for suggesting today's tease of a word.)
Tim is real old tantaliser, he is ! (And so must the Agora and Dr Goodword be, to attract so many members. Congratulations !)

Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?

misterdoe
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Re: TANTALIZE

Postby misterdoe » Fri May 29, 2015 10:09 am

Rod Thrower's name makes me think he may be lax about keeping his car in good repair; maybe he should aim lower than an expen$ive Jaguar. :lol:


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