many-headedadj.n.

1537 tr. Original & Sprynge All Sectes f. 43 This manyheaded fayth [Ger. Diser vilköpffig mutter glaub](I saye) hath noryshed & brought forth all these doughters.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxvi. sig. Ff4 O weak trust of the many-headed multitude.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. viii. sig. G6^v The proud Duessa..High mounted on her many headed beast.

1595 S. Daniel First Fowre Bks. Ciuile Warres ii. xii. sig. G4 This many-headed monster Multitude.

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads i. 11 That many-headed hill.

1680 G. Hickes Spirit of Popery 2 That Many-headed Pope the Presbyterian Government.

1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace ii. i. 17 The many-headed Monster of the Pit.

1769 T. Smollett Hist. & Adventures Atom I. 120 Taycho..was convoyed home in triumph by that many-headed hydra the mob, which shook its multitudinous tail.

1819 Ld. J. Russell in Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 41 1105 Are we then to conclude..that Somers [etc.] expelled a king in order to set up a many-headed tyranny?

1849 Ld. Tennyson You might have Won 20 Keep nothing sacred: 'tis but just The many-headed beast should know.

1852 J. S. Henslow Dict. Bot. Many-headed, when many distinct buds are seated on the crown of a root.

1900 M. E. Wilkins Love of Parson Lord 18 He was in..labour over his many-headed sermons.

1943 S. Spender Spiritual Exercises 5 One being, of past, present, futurity, Seeks within these many-headed wills To uncage the flame-winged dove of the stone city.

1997 Sunday Times 26 Oct. (Getting Wired Suppl.) 3/4 Microsoft Money and Intuit Quicken have been transformed from cut-down accounting packages into many-headed applications that aim to manage, inform and advise on every aspect of your domestic affairs.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) xix. 197 The playful disposition of the many-headed.

1851 Southern Q. Rev. Jan. 78 The same innate love of self which makes men thrust such unconscionable masses of their own writing on the world..keeps the many-headed from reading any thing but what has merit in it, or what they fancy to have merit.

1892 G. Gissing Let. 22 Nov. (1994) V. 73 Drink in the Channel air, in the meantime, & think out a story of vigorous interest for the many-headed.

1934 P. G. Wodehouse Right ho, Jeeves xv. 181 We might have been a rather oversized greyhound and a somewhat slimmer electric hare doing their stuff on a circular track for the entertainment of the many-headed.

1847 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth 1st Ser. (ed. 3) 140 A Review,—which, among diverse other qualities of Cerberus, has that of many-headedness.

1889 Spectator 5 Oct. The many-headedness of a Parliament.

1904 Mod. Lang. Notes 19 71/2 The many-headedness of the hydra in the usual conception of her does not correspond with the half-human figures of the Bēowulf.