31 October 2016
grail
[greyl]
noun
1. (usually initial capital letter). Also called Holy Grail. a cup or chalice that in medieval legend was associated with unusual powers, especially the regeneration of life and, later, Christian purity, and was much sought after by medieval knights: identified with the cup used at the Last Supper and given to Joseph of Arimathea.
2. (sometimes initial capital letter) Informal. any greatly desired and sought-after objective; ultimate ideal or reward.
Origin of grail
Middle English, Anglo-French, Old French, Medieval Latin
1300-1350; Middle English graiel, graile, etc. < Anglo-French grahel, grayel, Old French gräel, grel < Medieval Latin gradālis platter, of uncertain origin
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for grail
Contemporary Examples
In picking Paul Ryan, Romney, as the grail Knight said to Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, “chose wisely.”
Paul Ryan Is a Smart Pick
Rich Galen
August 10, 2012
The grail in this story is the guitar that Gus kept on top of his piano, too high for Keith to reach.
Exile on Sesame Street: Keith Richards Writes a Kids’ Book
Malcolm Jones
September 11, 2014
Historical Examples
All night Perceval thinks of the lance and of the grail, and in the morning, on waking, finds neither man nor woman.
Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail
Alfred Nutt
In these modern days he rides abroad, seeking the Graft instead of the grail.
Cabbages and Kings
O. Henry
He turns and asks who raised the bridge, what the grail is, and why the spear bleeds, but no one answers.
Richard Wagner His Life and His Dramas
W. J. Henderson
It complimentarily introduces a hint or two of Wagner’s grail motif.
Contemporary American Composers
Rupert Hughes
Brons, thy father, dwells in these isles of Ireland, and with him is the grail.
Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail
Alfred Nutt
The grail vision had, then, taught the “guileless one” nothing.
Parsifal
H. R. Haweis
He overthrew a grail knight, and took his horse, his own having been wounded in the combat.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)
Henry Osborn Taylor
Is the grail, too, then turned into a mocking spirit to the unhappy Amfortas?
Parsifal
H. R. Haweis
Anagram
a girl
Today’s quote
I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.
– Martin Luther
On this day
31 October – Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve), celebrated in a number of countries on the eve of the Christian festival, All Hallows’ Day (or All Saints’ Day).
31 October 1517 – Protestant Revolution starts when Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the Wittenburg Church in Germany in protest against what he saw as corruption in the Catholic Church.
31 October 1876 – large cyclone strikes India, killing more than 200,000 people.
31 October 1941 – completion of Mt Rushmore sculptures near Keystone, South Dakota. It is a sculpture carved into the granite face of the mountain and ended because funding ran out. The sculpture features the faces of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Construction started on 4 October 1927. It was the brainchild of Doane Robinson. The carvings are 18m (60′) high and were carved by Gutzon Borglum and a team of 400 workers.
31 October 1984 – Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, assassinated by Sikh extremists.
31 October 1975 – Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announces the enactment of the Racial Discrimination Act which made it illegal to discriminate against someone based on their race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.