tantalize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To tease (someone) by offering or showing them something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied.

   They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion.

2. 2
   verb

   To be teased by something desirable that is kept out of reach.

   The poore people in Corinth did ſee, and ſmell, vvhat the rich men taſted, Tantalizing all the vvhile, and having their penury doubled by the Antiperiſtaſis of others plenty[…]

3. 3
   verb

   harass with persistent criticism or carping

Etymology

From Tantalus (Ancient Greek Τάνταλος (Tántalos)) in Greek mythology, who was condemned to Tartarus in the underworld. There, he had to stand for eternity in water that receded from him when he stooped to drink, beneath fruit trees whose branches were always out of reach. Derived as Tantalus + -ize.