Lexic.us

Definition of Holy grail

1. Noun. (legend) chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper.

Definition of Holy grail

1. Proper noun. An artifact in Christian mythology, being the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and in which some of his blood was caught during the crucifixion. ¹

2. Noun. A distant, all-but-unobtainable ultimate goal of a person or organization. ¹

3. Noun. A difficult or near-impossible goal that would prove to be a major benefit (example: "nanotechnology is the holy grail of medicine") ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Holy Grail

Literary usage of Holy grail

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Library of the World's Best Literature: Ancient and Modern by Edward Cornelius Towne (1897)
"The best known of the many modern embodiments of this legend are Tennyson's < holy grail' and the text of Wagner's musical drama < Parsifal. ..."

2. The Arthur of the English Poets by Howard Maynadier (1907)
"VIII THE holy grail INTERWOVEN with the Lancelot story in its later forms, though at the opposite pole in spirit, is the mystical legend of the holy grail. ..."

3. English Literature: From the Norman Conquest to Chaucer by William Henry Schofield (1906)
"The Quest of the holy grail, A consideration of the legends of Perceval and Lancelot leads us naturally to the history of the holy grail; for Perceval was ..."

4. Tennyson, His Art and Relation to Modern Life by Stopford Augustus Brooke (1894)
"The story of the holy grail, the Holy Vessel, traces its origins back to a remote antiquity. The oldest elements of the tale were Celtic (chiefly Irish), ..."

5. A Guide to the Middle English Metrical Romances Dealing with English and by Anna Hunt Billings (1901)
"Birch-Hirschfeld, Die Sage vom Graal, Leipsic, 1877; Nutt,1 Studies on the Legend of the holy grail, L., 1888 (cf. G. Paris, Rom. XVIII 588—901); Heinzel, ..."

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