penelopize

verb

Etymology

From Penelope + -ize, from the account in Homer's Odyssey of Penelope, who stalled her many suitors while she wove a shroud which she unraveled nightly to prolong the process.

Definitions

  1. To create a delay by undoing what has previously been done, sometimes possibly with the…

    To create a delay by undoing what has previously been done, sometimes possibly with the intention of redoing it and repeating this cycle.

    • However, there is nothing for it but to penelopize, pull to pieces, and stitch away again.
    • Yiota would not allow me to begin to discuss Yiannaras's Commentary with her until I had finished reading it. I was tempted to penelopize, to go back to the beginning and start again in order to postpone the moment of discussion.
  2. Alternative form of penelopize.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for penelopize. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA