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

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

Soon all the seats were filled excepting one, the Siege Perilous, in which no man might sit under peril of his life, unless he were blameless and free from all sin.

From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5 by Sylvester, Charles Herbert

That business is to reach the Siege Perilous, or Magic Chair.

From He by Pollock, Walter Herries

And proof of it is in this that he shall sit in the Siege Perilous and no harm shall come to him therewith.

From In the Court of King Arthur by Lowe, Samuel E. (Samuel Edward)