hydra

[ hahy-druh ]

/ ˈhaɪ drə /

noun, plural hy·dras, hy·drae [hahy-dree] /ˈhaɪ dri/ for 1–3, genitive hy·drae [hahy-dree] /ˈhaɪ dri/ for 4.

(often initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. a water or marsh serpent with nine heads, each of which, if cut off, grew back as two; Hercules killed this serpent by cauterizing the necks as he cut off the heads.

any freshwater polyp of the genus Hydra and related genera, having a cylindrical body with a ring of tentacles surrounding the mouth, and usually living attached to rocks, plants, etc., but also capable of detaching and floating in the water.

a persistent or many-sided problem that presents new obstacles as soon as one aspect is solved.

(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the Sea Serpent, a large southern constellation extending through 90° of the sky, being the longest of all constellations.

Origin of hydra

1325–75; < Latin < Greek hýdrā water serpent (replacing Middle English ydre < Middle French < L); see otter

Words nearby hydra

hyder ali, hyderabad, hydnocarpate, hydnocarpic acid, hydr-, hydra, hydra-headed, hydracid, hydraemia, hydragogue, hydralazine

Example sentences from the Web for hydra

But this may be like the Hydra, where something new can grow in its place.

The Folly of Banning Greece’s Neo-Nazi Party |James Kirchick |October 5, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
Antifragile things, meanwhile, are strengthened by it—just as Hydra grows stronger and more multiheaded with every decapitation.

A Manifesto for Disorder: Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ‘Antifragile’ Reviewed |Robert Herritt |November 26, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
The gang is a hydra, he said, and Suffolk County has seen fluctuations in gang activity.

Central American Gang MS-13 Cuts Swath of Murder and Mayhem Across Long Island |Matthew DeLuca |June 3, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Glaring round, in search of a hydra which did not smile, the speaker discovered it in the reporters' gallery.

The Red Room |August Strindberg

He thought he saw a serpent of the hydra kind, with nine heads, ready to seize him.

The Little Gleaner, Vol. X. |Various
He was as motionless as a corpse, while his thoughts wallowed on the earth and soared, now like the hydra, now like the eagle.

Les Misrables |Victor Hugo
Hercules's second labor was to kill the Hydra, a nine-headed monster that infested the marshes of Lerna.

Stories of Old Greece and Rome |Emilie Kip Baker
We shall have cut the gordian knot of slavery, and the death agonies of the hydra would soon be visible.

The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863 |Various

British Dictionary definitions for hydra (1 of 3)

hydra

/ (ˈhaɪdrə) /

noun plural -dras or -drae (-driː)

any solitary freshwater hydroid coelenterate of the genus Hydra, in which the body is a slender polyp with tentacles around the mouth

a persistent trouble or evil the hydra of the Irish problem

Word Origin for hydra

C16: from Latin, from Greek hudra water serpent; compare otter

British Dictionary definitions for hydra (2 of 3)

Hydra ¹

/ (ˈhaɪdrə) /

noun

Greek myth a monster with nine heads, each of which, when struck off, was replaced by two new ones

British Dictionary definitions for hydra (3 of 3)

Hydra ²

/ (ˈhaɪdrə) /

noun Latin genitive Hydrae (ˈhaɪdriː)

a very long faint constellation lying mainly in the S hemisphere and extending from near Virgo to Cancer

Scientific definitions for hydra

hydra

[ hī′drə ]

Plural hydras hydrae (hī′drē)

See under hydroid.

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

hydra

noun, plural hy·dras, hy·drae [hahy-dree] /ˈhaɪ dri/ for 1–3, genitive hy·drae [hahy-dree] /ˈhaɪ dri/ for 4.

Origin of hydra

Words nearby hydra

Example sentences from the Web for hydra