hydra

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: hy=dra

CIDE DICTIONARY

hydra, n. [L. hydra, Gr. "y`dra; akin to "y`dwr water. See Otter the animal, Water.].

•  A serpent or monster in the lake or marsh of Lerna, in the Peloponnesus, represented as having many heads, one of which, when cut off, was immediately succeeded by two others, unless the wound was cauterized. It was slain by Hercules. Hence, a terrible monster.  [1913 Webster]

  "Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire."  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence: A multifarious evil, or an evil having many sources; not to be overcome by a single effort.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any small fresh-water hydroid of the genus Hydra, usually found attached to sticks, stones, etc., by a basal sucker.  [1913 Webster]

  " The body is a simple tube, having a mouth at one extremity, surrounded by a circle of tentacles with which it captures its prey. Young hydras bud out from the sides of the older ones, but soon become detached and are then like their parent. Hydras are remarkable for their power of repairing injuries; for if the body be divided in pieces, each piece will grow into a complete hydra, to which fact the name alludes. The zooids or hydranths of marine hydroids are sometimes called hydras."  [1913 Webster]
•  A southern constellation of great length lying southerly from Cancer, Leo, and Virgo.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

hydra, n.
1 a freshwater polyp of the genus Hydra with tubular body and tentacles around the mouth.
2 any water-snake.
3 something which is hard to destroy.

Etymology

ME f. L f. Gk hudra water-snake, esp. a fabulous one with many heads that grew again when cut off

DEVIL DICTIONARY

hydra

n. A kind of animal that the ancients catalogued under many heads.

ROGET THESAURUS

hydra

Unconformity

N unconformity, nonconformity, unconformity, disconformity, unconventionality, informality, abnormity, abnormality, anomaly, anomalousness, exception, peculiarity, infraction of law, breach, of law, violation of law, violation of custom, violation of usage, infringement of law, infringement of custom, infringement of usage, teratism, eccentricity, bizarrerie, oddity, je ne sais quoi, monster, monstrosity, rarity, freak, freak of Nature, weirdo, mutant, rouser, snorter, individuality, idiosyncrasy, originality, mannerism, aberration, irregularity, variety, singularity, exemption, salvo, nonconformist, nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae, rara avis, queer fish, mongrel, random breed, half-caste, half-blood, half-breed, metis, crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto, tertium quid, hermaphrodite, phoenix, chimera, hydra, sphinx, minotaur, griffin, griffon, centaur, saggittary, kraken, cockatrice, wyvern, roc, dragon, sea serpent, mermaid, merman, merfolk, unicorn, Cyclops, men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, teratology, fish out of water, neither one thing nor another, neither fish nor fowl, neither fish flesh nor fowl nor good red herring, one in a million, one in a way, one in a thousand, outcast, outlaw, off the beaten track, oasis, uncomformable, exceptional, abnormal, abnormous, anomalous, anomalistic, out of order, out of place, out of keeping, out of tune, out of one's element, irregular, arbitrary, teratogenic, lawless, informal, aberrant, stray, wandering, wanton, peculiar, exclusive, unnatural, eccentric, egregious, out of the beaten track, off the beaten track, out of the common, out of the common run, beyond the pale of, out of the pale of, misplaced, funny, unusual, unaccustomed, uncustomary, unwonted, uncommon, rare, curious, odd, extraordinary, out of the ordinary, strange, monstrous, wonderful, unexpected, unaccountable, outre, out of the way, remarkable, noteworthy, queer, quaint, nondescript, none such, sui generis, unfashionable, fantastic, grotesque, bizarre, outlandish, exotic, tombe des nues, preternatural, denaturalized, heterogeneous, heteroclite, amorphous, mongrel, amphibious, epicene, half blood, hybrid, androgynous, androgynal, asymmetric, adelomorphous, bisexual, hermaphrodite, monoclinous, qualified, singular, unique, one-of-a-kind, newfangled, novel, non-classical, original, unconventional, unheard of, unfamiliar, undescribed, unprecedented, unparalleled, unexampled, unconformably, except, unless, save barring, beside, without, save and except, let alone, however, yet, but, once in a blue moon, once in a million years, Int, what on earth!, what in the world!, What the devil!, Holy cow!, Can you top that?, Sacre bleu, never was seen the like, never was heard the like, never was known the like, I could hardly believe it, I saw it, but I didn't believe it.

Productiveness

N productiveness, fecundity, fertility, luxuriance, uberty, pregnancy, pullulation, fructification, multiplication, propagation, procreation, superfetation, milch cow, rabbit, hydra, warren, seed plot, land flowing with milk and honey, second crop, aftermath, aftercrop, aftergrowth, arrish, eddish, rowen, protoplasm, fertilization, productive, prolific, teeming, teemful, fertile, fruitful, frugiferous, fruit-bearing, fecund, luxuriant, pregnant, uberous, procreant, procreative, generative, life-giving, spermatic, multiparous, omnific, propagable, parturient, profitable.