Something that is routinely undone and, therefore, never progresses. Refers to The Odyssey, in which Odysseus's wife Penelope weaves and unweaves Laertes's burial shroud each day, so as to avoid having to choose a suitor. (She is expected to choose a suitor after finishing the shroud.) Every day, I work on this manuscript, and every night, my boss tells me to redo most of it. It's becoming like Penelope's web.