la·oc·o·on \lāˈäkəˌwän\noun (-s) Usage: often capitalized Etymology: after Laocoon, ancient Greek priest of Apollo (from Greek Laokoōn) who is portrayed in a 1st century B.C. sculpture in a heroic struggle against two giant serpents : one that struggles heroically with crushing or baffling difficulties < a man engaged in a Laocoon struggle with his imagination — Robert Lynd > < gives the impression of being … forced into laocoon attitudes — Graham Greene >