monster
n.— «The $30 worth of hits turned into a $3,000-a-month monster. Now the monster is Irene’s top priority. She’s been on crack three years. Three times in rehab. Three times a failure. “This is not an addiction that you can click off and on like a light switch,” she said. “You gotta set a goal and you work up towards that goal.”» —“Feeding the monster: Life of a cocaine addict” by Glenn E. Rice Kansas City Star (Kan., Mo.) Apr. 11, 1993. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)