What is "holy grail"

Holy \Ho"ly\, a. [Compar. Holier; superl. Holiest.] [OE. holi, hali, AS. h[=a]lig, fr. h[ae]l health, salvation, happiness, fr. h[=a]l whole, well; akin to OS. h?lag, D. & G. heilig, OHG. heilac, Dan. hellig, Sw. helig, Icel. heilagr. See Whole, and cf. Halibut, Halidom, Hallow, Hollyhock.]

1. Set apart to the service or worship of God; hallowed; sacred; reserved from profane or common use; holy vessels; a holy priesthood. ``Holy rites and solemn feasts.''
   --Milton.

2. Spiritually whole or sound; of unimpaired innocence and virtue; free from sinful affections; pure in heart; godly; pious; irreproachable; guiltless; acceptable to God. Now through her round of holy thought The Church our annual steps has brought. --Keble. Holy Alliance (Hist.), a league ostensibly for conserving religion, justice, and peace in Europe, but really for repressing popular tendencies toward constitutional government, entered into by Alexander I. of Russia, Francis I. of Austria, and Frederic William III. of Prussia, at Paris, on the 26th of September, 1815, and subsequently joined by all the sovereigns of Europe, except the pope and the king of England. Holy bark. See Cascara sagrada. Holy Communion. See Eucharist. Holy family (Art), a picture in which the infant Christ, his parents, and others of his family are represented. Holy Father, a title of the pope. Holy Ghost (Theol.), the third person of the Trinity; the Comforter; the Paraclete. Holy Grail. See Grail. Holy grass (Bot.), a sweet-scented grass ( Hierochloa borealis and Hierochloa alpina). In the north of Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days; whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla grass or Seneca grass. Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. Holy office, the Inquisition. Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept, and where no person entered, except the high priest once a year. Holy One.

   1. The Supreme Being; -- so called by way of emphasis. `` The Holy One of Israel.''
      --Is. xliii. 14.

   2. One separated to the service of God. Holy orders. See Order. Holy rood, the cross or crucifix, particularly one placed, in churches. over the entrance to the chancel. Holy rope, a plant, the hemp agrimony. Holy Saturday (Eccl.), the Saturday immediately preceding the festival of Easter; the vigil of Easter. Holy Spirit, same as Holy Ghost (above). Holy Spirit plant. See Dove plant. Holy thistle (Bot.), the blessed thistle. See under Thistle. Holy Thursday. (Eccl.)

      1. (Episcopal Ch.) Ascension day.

      2. (R. C. Ch.) The Thursday in Holy Week; Maundy Thursday.

         Holy war, a crusade; an expedition carried on by Christians against the Saracens in the Holy Land, in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, for the possession of the holy places.

         Holy water (Gr. & R. C. Churches), water which has been blessed by the priest for sacred purposes.

         Holy-water stoup, the stone stoup or font placed near the entrance of a church, as a receptacle for holy water.

         Holy Week (Eccl.), the week before Easter, in which the passion of our Savior is commemorated.

         Holy writ, the sacred Scriptures. `` Word of holy writ.''
         --Wordsworth.

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.

n. A distant, near-impossible goal.

Holy Grail is an American heavy-metal band, founded in Pasadena, California, in 2008.

The Holy Grail is a dish, plate, stone or cup that is part of an important theme of Arthurian literature. According to legend, it has special powers and is designed to provide happiness, eternal youth and food in infinite abundance.

A grail, wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in Perceval le Gallois, an unfinished romance by Chrétien de Troyes. It is a processional salver used to serve at a feast. Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the grail as a great precious stone that fell from the sky. The Grail legend became interwoven with legends of the Holy Chalice. The connection with Joseph of Arimathea and with vessels associated with the Last Supper and crucifixion of Jesus dates from Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie (late 12th century) in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Great Britain. Building upon this theme, later writers recounted how Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ's blood while interring him and how he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe in Britain. The legend may combine Christian lore with a Celtic myth of a cauldron endowed with special powers.

"Holy Grail" is a song performed by the Australian band Hunters & Collectors on their 1992 album Cut. With lyrics referring to popular Holy Grail mythology, the song is an anthemic single inspired by Napoleon's march to Russia in 1812, but also referencing the Hunters and Collectors' flagging attempts to "crack" the American market.

Singer Mark Seymour said, "With the lyrics, I'd been reading a Jeanette Winterson novel, "The Passion". It was a story about Napoleon's chef when he invaded Russia. The army was destroyed by the weather. It's a story about survival. It's a really powerful book and somehow I drew this analogy between the idea of this guy managing to survive this incredible ordeal and Hunters and Collectors making this excruciating record."

The song has since become an Australian rules football anthem, particularly with the reference to the Premiership Cup and the AFL Grand Final. Channel Ten used the song to open and close its AFL broadcasts between 2002 and 2006. Seymour performed the song as part of the AFL Grand Final's pre-match entertainment in 1998, 2002 and 2009 and half-time entertainment in 2013. This song was used for many years as the theme song of the Queensland Bulls cricket team in the quest for the Sheffield Shield, its own "Holy Grail". It was also featured as the theme song to the Australian rugby league movie Footy Legends.

In 2013 a cover version of "Holy Grail" by The Rubens appeared on the tribute album, Crucible – The Songs of Hunters & Collectors.

The Holy Grail is a mystical object in the Arthurian legend.

Holy Grail/holy grail may also refer to:

• "Holy Grail" (Hunters & Collectors song), 1992
• "Holy Grail" (Jay Z song), 2013, featuring Justin Timberlake
• Holy Grail (album), an 2011 album by Versailles
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a 1975 comedy film
• Holy Grail (band), a heavy metal band from Pasadena, California
• Holy Grail tapestries, six tapestries woven by Morris & Co. in 1890s
• Any major unsolved problem in a given field; see List of unsolved problems
• Holy Grail (web design), a CSS programming trick for dividing a web page into three columns
• A rare, valuable object, source, event or difficult-to-reach goal in a given field
• Stanley Cup, sometimes referred to as the "Holy Grail"
• AFL Premiership, sometimes referred to as the "Holy Grail"

The Holy Grail refers to a web page layout which has multiple, equal height columns that are defined with style sheets. It is commonly desired and implemented, although the ways in which it can be implemented with current technologies all have drawbacks. Because of this, finding an optimal implementation has been likened to searching for the elusive Holy Grail.

The limitations of CSS and HTML, the desirability of semantically meaningful pages that rank well in search engines, and the deficiencies of various browsers combine to create a situation in which there is no way to create this type of layout that would be considered totally correct. As the underlying technologies do not provide a proper solution, web designers have found various ways to work around the limitations. Common workarounds include changes in page structure, the addition of graphics, scripting, and the creative use of CSS. These methods are imperfect, inconvenient, and may even be considered abuse of the web standards and their intent.

Upcoming web standards will deal with this and other layout issues in a much more elegant fashion. However, the problem will continue until these standards are finalized and widely implemented.

Holy Grail is the third album by Versailles, released on June 15, 2011 it is their first to feature new bassist Masashi. The album includes " Philia", theme song of their TV program Onegai Kanaete Versailles, "Masquerade", main theme of the film Vampire Stories: Brothers and "Vampire", main theme of the film Vampire Stories: Chasers.

The limited edition comes with a bonus DVD of the music videos for "Masquerade", "Vampire", " Destiny -The Lovers-" and "Philia". The deluxe box limited edition comes with a DVD of five versions of the "Masquerade" music video, each focusing on a different member, an interview with Kamijo and the making-of the video.

"Holy Grail" is a song by American hip hop artist Jay Z from his twelfth studio album Magna Carta Holy Grail. It features vocals from American singer Justin Timberlake and serves as the album's first single. It was produced by The-Dream, Timbaland and J-Roc, with additional production from No ID and contains elements of Nirvana's 1991 hit single " Smells Like Teen Spirit". Following the release of the album, the song charted in many regions, entering at number eight and reaching number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as charting at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The song received mixed reviews from music critics. "Holy Grail" has sold over 3 million copies in the United States as of March 2014.

"Holy Grail" won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 56th Grammy Awards. In 2014, Billboard placed it at number 25 on their list of Top 100 Hot Rap Songs of all time.