grail

See also GRAIL

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɹeɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

Old French graal (“cup”), from Medieval Latin gradalis.

Noun

grail (plural grails)

1. The Holy Grail.
2. The object of an extended or difficult quest.[1]

   Becoming an astronaut was his grail.

Etymology 2

From Old French grael, ultimately from Latin graduale.

Noun

grail (plural grails)

1. A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain; perhaps a reduced form of gravel.

Noun

grail (uncountable)

1. (poetic) Small particles of earth; gravel.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vii:

     Hereof this gentle knight vnweeting was, / And lying downe vpon the sandie graile, / Drunke of the streame, as cleare as cristall glas [...].

Etymology 4

Compare Old French graite slender.

Noun

grail (plural grails)

1. One of the small feathers of a hawk.

Anagrams

• argil
• glair