grail
nounnounnounnounattested in dialogue
- //ɡɹeɪl//
The Holy Grail.
noun
- 1
The Holy Grail.
The quest for the Grail is not archeology. It's a race against evil. If it is captured by the Nazis, the armies of darkness will march all over the face of the earth. Do you understand me?
- 2
Something eagerly sought or quested for.
Becoming an astronaut was his grail.
How many of them had found the item they dreamt of, their personal grails?
Etymology
From Middle English graal, greal, from Old French graal, greal (“cup”), from Medieval Latin gradalis, possibly corrupted over time from Latin crater (“bowl”).
noun
- 1
A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual.
antiphonals, missals, grails, processionals, etc.
Etymology
From Middle English grayel, from Old French grael, ultimately from Latin graduale. Doublet of gradual.
noun
- 1
Small particles of earth; gravel.
Hereof this gentle knight vnweeting was, / And lying downe vpon the sandie graile, / Drunke of the streame, as cleare as cristall glas [...].
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps a reduced form of gravel.
noun
- 1
One of the small feathers of a hawk.
Etymology
Compare Old French graite slender.
Forms
- plural
- grails