Holy Grail

See also: holy grail

English

Etymology

From Middle English Holy Grayle.

(web page layout): So called because it was traditionally difficult to achieve with the available markup.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

the Holy Grail (plural Holy Grails)

1. (Arthurian legend) An artifact in Arthurian mythology, being the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper and in which some of his blood was caught during the crucifixion.
2. (Internet, informal) A web page layout with fixed-width columns to the left and right, and a central area that fills the remaining space.

Translations

artifact in Christian mythology

• Breton: Graal, Graal Santel
• Bulgarian: Свещен Граал (Svešten Graal)
• Catalan: Sant Greal m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聖杯 / 圣杯 (zh) (shèngbēi)

• Cornish: Gral m
• Czech: Svatý grál m
• Dutch: Heilige Graal f
• Esperanto: Sankta gralo
• Finnish: Graalin malja
• French: Graal (fr) m, Saint-Graal m

  Middle French: Saint Graal m

• Galician: Graal m, Santo Graal m
• German: Heiliger Gral m
• Greek: Άγιο Δισκοπότηρο n (Ágio Diskopótiro), Άγιο Ποτήριο n (Ágio Potírio)
• Hungarian: Szent Grál (hu)
• Irish: An Soitheach Naofa m
• Italian: Santo Graal m
• Japanese: 聖杯 (ja) (せいはい, Seihai)
• Korean: 성배(聖杯) (Seongbae)
• Lao: ຈອກສັກສິດ (chǭk sak sit)
• Latin: Gradalis Sanctus m
• Manx: Grail Casherick
• Middle English: Seint Graal
• Norwegian: hellige gral
• Polish: Graal m, Święty Graal (pl) m
• Portuguese: Santo Graal m
• Russian: Свято́й Грааль (ru) m (Svjatój Graalʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Свети Грал, Свети Здела m

  Roman: Sveti Gral, Sveti Zdela m

• Spanish: Santo Grial m
• Swedish: den heliga gral c
• Tagalog: Banal na Kopita
• Thai: จอกศักดิ์สิทธิ์
• Turkish: Kutsal Kâse, Mukaddes Kâse
• Welsh: Greal sanctaidd m

Noun

Holy Grail (plural Holy Grails)

1. (figuratively) Anything that is highly sought-after but attained only through difficult endeavor.

   Nanotechnology is the holy grail of medicine.

   • 2008, Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed, Ch.3, at p.65:

     Pushing fifty, Alphonse was still afraid to approach women. Still searching for his holy grail, too: a 1965 yellow Mustang hardtop with 289-cubic-inch engine, four-barrel carburetor, and solid-lifter valve train. He belonged to something called the Yellow Mustang Registry. Checked eBay five or six times a day. Phoenician Yellow, his dream car had to be, not the paler Springtime Yellow, also available back in '65.

Alternative forms

• holy grail

Translations

distant or difficult, sought-after goal

• Dutch: heilige graal (nl) f
• Finnish: graalin malja
• Greek: άγιο δισκοπότηρο n (ágio diskopótiro)
• Italian: Santo Graal m
• Portuguese: santo graal m
• Russian: золотое руно (ru) n (zolotoje runo) священный Грааль m (svjaščennyj Graalʹ) (idiomatic)
• Spanish: santo grial

See also

• Sangraal, Sangrail, Sangreal