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Possible definitions for gravis

grail
In Arthurian legend, a sacred cup that was the object of a mystical quest by knights of the Round Table. The grail legend may have been inspired by classical and Celtic stories of magic cauldrons and horns of plenty. It was first given Christian significance as a mysterious, holy object by Chré tien de Troyes in the 12th-cent. romance Perceval, or the Count of the Holy Grail. The grail was sometimes said to be the same cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and later by Joseph of Arimathea to catch the blood flowing the wounds of Jesus on the cross. The most notable figure connected with the grail was Sir Galahad, who, according to T. Malory's Le Morte Darthur, found the grail and achieved mystical union with God.


Granicus
First victory won by Alexander the Great in his invasion of the Persian empire. Against heavy odds at the Granicus River, Alexander's army defeated the Persians under Darius III, who fled. Alexander himself charged the Persian generals, killing two of Darius' relatives and almost losing his own life. The Macedonians reportedly lost only 115 men. The victory gave W Asia Minor to Alexander, and most cities hastened to open their gates.


Granit
Finnish-Swedish physiologist. His "dominator-modulator" theory states that in addition to the retina's three kinds of cone cells, which respond to different colors, certain optic-nerve fibers (dominators) respond either to the whole spectrum or to specific colors (modulators). He also proved that light inhibits as well as stimulates optic-nerve impulses; other research helped determine the nerve pathways and processes by which receptors in muscle coordinate muscle action. He shared a 1967 Nobel Prize with G. Wald and H. Hartline.


granite
Coarse- or medium-grained intrusive rock that is rich in quartz and alkali feldspar. One of the most common rocks of the earth's crust, it is formed by the cooling of magma. Granite was once used extensively as paving blocks and building stone, but today its principal uses are as roadway curbing, veneer for building faces, and tombstones. Granite characteristically forms irregular masses of extremely variable size, ranging from less than 5 mi (8 km) in maximum dimension to larger masses (batholiths) that are often hundreds of square miles in area.


Grass
German novelist, poet, and playwright. Born in Danzig (now Gdá nsk, Poland), Grass passed through the Hitler Youth movement, was drafted at 16 and wounded in battle, and became a prisoner of war. His extraordinary first novel, The Tin Drum (1959), brought him worldwide fame, and he became the literary spokesman for the German generation that grew up in the Nazi era. It was followed by Cat and Mouse (1961) and Dog Years (1963); the three novels form a trilogy set in Danzig. His other works, all politically topical, include The Flounder (1977); Meeting at Telgte (1979), Headbirths (1980); The Call of the Toad ...

Top words beginning with G: genially, gigantically, gallonage, gummier, grisliest, generate, gaped, glycogenosis, glycoleucine, goodmanship, gnomonia, gradienter, genecologist, gametogenic, gilgai, gae, grouting, gurnard, gimcracky, gunebo

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