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/

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. 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.

• Hardy, hardy

From Ancient Greek ὕδρα (húdra).

• 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 quote)

• (serpent): Hydra

• (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/, [ˈhʏ.dra]

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

1. A water-snake.

First declension.

• 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, 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