Grail

n. [O. Fr. greel, contracted from L. Lat. gradale, graduale. See GRADUAL, n.]

1. A book of offices in the Roman Catholic church; a gradual. Warton.
2. A broad, open dish or cup; also, a chalice. [Obs.] Nares.

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. By some it was said to have been preserved by Joseph of Arimathea, who received into it the blood which flowed from the Redeemer’s wounds as he hung on the cross. By others it was said to have been brought down from heaven by angels, and committed to the charge of a body of knights, who guarded it on the top of a lofty mountain. This cup, according to the legend, if approached by any but a perfectly pure and holy person, would be borne away and vanish from their sight. This led to the quest of the Holy Grail, which was to be sought for on every side by a knight who was perfectly chaste in thought, word, and act. It is to this that some of the later English poets have referred, especially Tennyson in his Sir Galahad:— “Sometimes on lonely mountain meres I find a magic bark; I leap on board; no helmsman steers; I float till all is dark. A gentle sound, an awful light! Three angels bear the Holy Grail: With folded feet, in stoles of white, On sweeping wings they sail.” The origin of the word in this sense is uncertain. It may be derived from graal or greal, which in the Langue Romane signifies a cup or dish. Some, however, according to Dunlop, suppose the word Sangreal (the Holy Grail) to be a corruption of Sanguis realis (real blood), from its having been fabled to be filled with blood, and that grail is formed from this by further corruption, and omission of the first syllable.