The story
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.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
penelopize
Today it means: To create a delay by undoing what has previously been done, sometimes possibly with the intention of redoing it and repeating this cycle. Full definition →