tantalus

noun3

1. •
   A stand in which to lock up drink decanters while keeping them visible.

   • Yes, there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the sea-chest. — 1904
2. •
   A stork of the genus Mycteria (formerly Tantalus), especially the American wood stork, Mycteria americana.
3. •
   Something of an evasive or retreating nature, something consistently out of reach; a tantalising thing.

   • Over all, there brooded the shadow of his injuries and the tantalus of their slow healing. — 1953