grail

See also: GRAIL

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɹeɪl/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

From Middle English graal, greal, from Old French graal, greal (cup), from Medieval Latin gradalis, possibly corrupted over time from Latin crater (bowl).

Noun

grail (plural grails)

  1. The Holy Grail.
  2. Something eagerly sought or quested for.
    Becoming an astronaut was his grail.
    • 2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 214:
      How many of them had found the item they dreamt of, their personal grails?

Etymology 2

From Middle English grayel, from Old French grael, ultimately from Latin graduale. Doublet of gradual.

Noun

grail (plural grails)

  1. A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual.
    • 1694, John Strype, the Memorials of Thomas Cranmer:
      antiphonals, missals, grails, processionals, etc.

Etymology 3

Uncertain; perhaps a reduced form of gravel.

Noun

grail (uncountable)

  1. (poetic) Small particles of earth; gravel.

Etymology 4

Compare Old French graite slender.

Noun

grail (plural grails)

  1. One of the small feathers of a hawk.

Anagrams

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