τρύπανον
εἰς τετρημένον πίθον ἀντλεῖν → run water into a punctured pitcher, to the perforated jar bale water, labour in vain, labor in vain
English (LSJ)
[ῡ], τό, a carpenter's tool,
A borer, auger, rotated by a thong (cf. τρυπάω), Od.9.385, cf. Pratin.Lyr.1.14, E.Cyc.461, Pl. Cra.388a, Nicoch.9, AP6.205 (Leon.); the boring-point of a siegeengine, Aen.Tact.32.5. II a surgical instrument, trepan, Hp. VC18; τ. ὀξὺ καὶ εὐθύ the straight-pointed trepan, Gal.19.129; τ. ἀβάπτιστον, another kind with a guard to prevent its piercing to the brain, Id.10.447. III fire-drill (v. πυρεῖον 1), ἀχάλκευτα τρύπανα S.Fr.708, cf. Thphr.HP5.9.7, Ign.64. IV τρύπανα, τά, metaph., fellows who will do nothing without driving, Crates ap. Stob.3.4.50. 2 metaph. of Pan, sens. obsc., Call.Fr.412.
