Siege Perilous

American  

[seej per-uh-luhs] / ˈsidʒ ˈpɛr ə ləs /

noun

1. Arthurian Legend. a vacant seat at the Round Table that could be filled only by the predestined finder of the Holy Grail and was fatal to pretenders.

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Siege Perilous British  

noun

1. (in Arthurian legend) the seat at the Round Table that could be filled only by the knight destined to find the Holy Grail and that was fatal to anyone else

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Etymology

Origin of Siege Perilous

First recorded in 1425–75; from Old French siege perilleus “dangerous seat”; see siege ( def. ), perilous ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Siege Perilous

Shortly after being beaten down by a group of cyborg supervillains, a number of the heroes enter a mirror-like portal called the Siege Perilous.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2021

Enough would be a world that, like the Siege Perilous, lets us give one another the lives we are all entitled to.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2021

But she is indeed a witch and the other is surely a Siege Perilous.

From The Art of the Moving Picture by Vachel Lindsay

Anon the old knight led him unto the Siege Perilous, where beside sat Sir Percivale and Sir Launcelot.

From Stories of King Arthur and His Knights Retold from Malory's "Morte dArthur" by U. Waldo Cutler

He was not quite the man to sit in the Siege Perilous that had been occupied in turn by Pitt and Fox.

From A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III by Justin McCarthy