Noun
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.
Hence: A multifarious evil, or an evil having many sources; not to be overcome by a single effort.
Any small fresh-water hydroid of the genus Hydra, usually found attached to sticks, stones, etc., by a basal sucker.
A southern constellation of great length lying southerly from Cancer, Leo, and Virgo.
Source: Webster's dictionaryPhilosophy gets on my nerves. If we analyze the ultimate ground of everything, then everything finally falls into nothingness. But I have decided to resume my lectures again and look the Hydra of doubt straight into the eye, and it be quite ominous if one values one's life. Ludwig Boltzmann
One of the critical issues that we have to confront is illegal immigration, because this is a multi-headed Hydra that affects our economy, our health care, our health care, our education systems, our national security, and also our local criminality. Allen West (politician)
Hatred is like a Hydra - the more heads one chops off, the stronger it grows. Andrzej Majewski
Maybe not a hydra because that's really, really nasty. I think there was almost a false head: we ripped open the packaging and now we're faced with the real thing that's there in the box... Ahdaf Soueif
The one thing with writing stories about the rise of fascism is that if you wait long enough, you'll almost certainly be proved right. Fascism is like a hydra - you can cut off its head in the Germany of the '30s and '40s, but it'll still turn up on your back doorstep in a slightly altered guise. Alan Moore
Huge as the snakes that armed the Giants when they stormed heaven, or as the hydra that wearied Hercules by the waters of Lerna, or as Juno's snake that guarded the boughs with golden foliage. Silius Italicus