What is "grail"

Grail \Grail\ (gr[=a]l), n. [Cf. OF. graite slender, F. gr[^e]te.] One of the small feathers of a hawk.

Grail \Grail\, n. [OF. greel, LL. gradale. See Gradual, n.] A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual. [Obs.]
--T. Warton.

Such as antiphonals, missals, grails, processionals, etc.
--Strype.

Grail \Grail\, n. [OF. graal, greal, greet, F. graal, gr['e]al, LL. gradalis, gradale, prob. derived fr. L. crater bowl, mixing vessel, Gr. krath`r. See Crater.] A broad, open dish; a chalice; -- only used of the Holy Grail.

Note: The Holy Grail, according to some legends of the Middle Ages, was the cup used by our Savior in dispensing the wine at the last supper; and according to others, the platter on which the paschal lamb was served at the last Passover observed by our Lord. This cup, according to the legend, if appoached by any but a perfectly pure and holy person, would be borne away and vanish from the sight. The quest of the Holy Grail was to be undertaken only by a knight who was perfectly chaste in thought, word, and act.

Grail \Grail\, n. [F. gr[^e]le hail, from gr['E]s grit, OHG. griex, grioz, G. gries, gravel, grit. See Grit.] Small particles of earth; gravel. [Obs.]

Lying down upon the sandy grail.
--Spenser.

c.1300, "the Holy Grail," from Old French graal "Holy Grail, cup," earlier "large shallow dish," from Medieval Latin gradalis "a flat dish or shallow vessel," perhaps ultimately from Latin crater "bowl," from Greek krater "bowl, especially for mixing wine with water."\n

\nHoly Grail is anglicized from Middle English Sangreal (Saint graal), grafted awkwardly onto the Celtic Arthurian legends 12c. by Church scribes probably in place of some pagan otherworldly object. It was said to be the cup into which Joseph of Arimathea received the last drops of blood of Christ (according to the writers who picked up the thread of Chrétien de Troyes' "Perceval") or the dish from which Christ ate the Last Supper (Robert de Boron), and ultimately was identified as both ("þe dische wiþ þe blode," 14c.).

Etymology 1 n. 1 The Holy Grail. 2 The object of an extended or difficult quest. Etymology 2

n. A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual. Etymology 3

n. (context poetic English) Small particles of earth; gravel. Etymology 4

n. One of the small feathers of a hawk.

n. (legend) chalice used by Christ at the last supper [syn: Holy Grail, Sangraal]

The Grail or Holy Grail is a mythical object of Arthurian legend.

Grail may also refer to:

In science and technology:

• Grail (web browser), a free extensible web browser written in Python
• Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, a 2011 twin-spacecraft NASA Moon mission
• GRAIL system, a light-pen-based interactive graphical computer programming environment developed by RAND Corporation during the 1960s

In entertainment:

• "Grail" (Babylon 5), a 1994 episode of Babylon 5 television series
• Grail (DC Comics), the secret society from the comic book Preacher
• Grail (WildStorm), a fictional character in the comic Wetworks
• The Grail, a 1988 adventure video game by Microdeal

Other uses:

• SA-7 Grail, NATO reporting name of the Strela 2 Russian surface-to-air missile system
• Grail (women's movement), a quasi-religious women's group
• Grail Movement, a religious movement inspired by the work of Oskar Ernst Bernhardt

"Grail" is an episode from the first season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

Grail was a free extensible multi-platform web browser written in the Python programming language. The project was started in August 1995, with its first public release in November of that year. The 0.3 beta contained over 27,000 lines of Python. The last official release was version 0.6 in 1999.

One of the major distinguishing features of Grail was the ability to run client-side Python code, in much the same way as mainstream browsers run client-side JavaScript code.

Grail is a fictional character who is published by Wildstorm Productions an imprint of DC Comics. He first appeared in WildC.A.T.S (Vol.1) #2.

Grail, in comics, may refer to:

• The Grail, a secret organization in Preacher
• Grail (WildStorm), a WildStorm character and member of Wetworks
• Grail, a fictional character in the DC Universe

The Grail is a community of about a thousand women from 24 countries, many different cultures and very different backgrounds and work situations. The Grail was started in 1921 as the Women of Nazareth by Fr. Jacques van Ginneken, a Dutch Jesuit. He felt that many new possibilities were opening up for women and that a group of lay women, unconfined by convent walls and rules, could make an immense contribution to the transformation of the world. By 1939 the Grail had become a colourful movement involving thousands of young women in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany, challenging them to deep personal and spiritual commitment. Pioneers in Catholic feminist theology, the Grail in the USA voted in 1969 to admit women of other Christian denominations, and in 1975, to accept Jewish women as members.

The Grail was started in Australia in 1936, in the United States in 1940, in New Zealand in the late 1930s, in Brazil and South Africa in 1951, in Uganda in 1953, in Portugal in 1958 and subsequently in Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Italy, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Kenya and Sweden. Grail members are also working in Belgium, Belize, Cape Verde, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ecuador and Zimbabwe.