hydra

After the Hydra, from Greek mythology, which grew two new heads every time one of its heads was cut off. The first sense alludes to the budding method of asexual reproduction that the hydra practices, similar to growing new heads. The second sense refers to how the creature could not be killed by a swift, decisive solution (in contrast to a Gordian knot).

• enPR: hī'drə, IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪdɹə/

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hydra (plural hydras or hydrae or hydræ)

1. Any of several small freshwater polyps of the genus Hydra and related genera, having a naked cylindrical body and an oral opening surrounded by tentacles.
2. (fantasy) A dragon-like creature with many heads and the ability to regrow them when maimed.
3. A complex, multifarious problem or situation that cannot be solved easily and rapidly.
   • 2009, Kris Frieswick, Till Death Do Us Pay‎:

     Because the statute is so vaguely worded, award decisions are habitually based on case law, the growing mountain of which is a hydra of rulings that point in so many directions that almost any decision can be defended or overturned on appeal, depending on how smart your lawyer is and which precedent he selects to argue your case.

• brown hydra (Hydra oligactis)
• freshwater hydra (Hydra vulgaris)
• green hydra (Hydra viridissima)
• microhydra (Craspedacusta)

• “*hydra”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Hydra (genus) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Hydra on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Hydra on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

• Hardy, hardy

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra). Doublet of vydra.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɦɪdra]
• Rhymes: -ɪdra
• Hyphenation: hyd‧ra

hydra f

1. (Greek mythology, Roman mythology, singular only) Hydra, a mythological serpent with seven heads
   • 2010, Jana Eislerová, Staré řecké báje a pověsti‎, Fragment, →ISBN, page 21:

     Král nařizoval, aby Herakles zabil hydru, která děsila lidi a ničila kraj kolem města Lernu.

     The king ordered Herakles to kill Hydra, which had been frightening people and destroying the land around the city of Lerna.

2. something monstrous which is extremely difficult to fight with (often connected with organized crime)
   • (Can we date this quote?), (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Šéf Útvaru pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu Robert Šlachta popsal veřejnosti, jak vlastně vypadá kauza Nagyová, kmotři a korupčníci. Je to hluboká klientelistická hydra.

     The boss of the police unit for combating organized crime Robert Šlachta has described to the public how the case of Nagyová, godfathers and bribers appears. It is a deep clientelistic hydra.

3. Hydra, a genus of hydrozoan in family Hydridae
   • 2017, Filip Drlík, Obsahují davy: O mikrobech v nás, kolem nás a o jejich fascinujícím vlivu na náš život‎, Jan Melvil, translation of original by Ed Yong, →ISBN:

     Mytologická hydra terorizovala vesničany svým jedovatým dechem a krví, přičemž skutečná hydra zabíjí perloočky a korýše pomocí žahavých buněk, z nichž vystřeluje otrávené harpuny.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Hydra (serpent)

• (genus Hydra): nezmar

• (genus Hydra): živočichové – regnum; žahavci – phylum; polypovci – class; nezmaři – order; nezmarovití – family

• (genus Hydra): nezmar hvězdnatý, nezmar obecný, nezmar opásaný, nezmar ostropouzdrý, nezmar podélník, nezmar štíhlý, nezmar zelený

• See hydro-

• hydra in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• hydra in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

• drahý
• dráhy
• hadry
• hrady

From Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈhy.dra/, [ˈhʏd̪rä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈi.dra/, [ˈiːd̪rä]

hydra f (genitive hydrae); first declension (masculine hydrus)

1. A water-snake.

First-declension noun.

• Hydra
• hydrus

• “hydra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• hydra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “hydra”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
• “hydra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “hydra”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Learned borrowing from Latin hydra. Doublet of nutria and wydra.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɨd.ra/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈxɨ.dra/

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• Rhymes: -ɨdra
• Syllabification: hyd‧ra
• Homophone: Hydra

hydra f

1. hydra (any freshwater polyp from the genus Hydra)

   Synonym: stułbia

2. (fantasy) hydra (dragon-like creature with many heads and the ability to regrow them when maimed)

   Hypernym: stworzenie

3. (figurative) evil that is difficult to eradicate

   Hypernym: zło

• hydra in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• hydra in Polish dictionaries at PWN