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

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

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

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

From The Art of the Moving Picture by Lindsay, Vachel

Perhaps, though we be inventing a new fairy-tale, it will resemble the Siege Perilous in the Arthurian story, the chair where none but the perfect knight could sit.

From The Art of the Moving Picture by Lindsay, Vachel

Then they provided a cloth of silk for to cover these letters in the Siege Perilous, and the King bade haste unto dinner.

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