Make Your Point: GRIMOIRE

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pronounce GRIMOIRE:

GRIM warr

connect this word to others:

The word grimoire is perfect for implying that people are some sort of wizards or magicians. Fun! You can also make that point with the words below. See if you can recall each:

1. Al____y is a process that seems magical, mysterious, and sort of scientific.

2. A tal____n is an object that we believe gives us magical powers, especially for protection or good luck.

3. A n____s is a "cloud" of holy light, or a general mood of holiness or wonder that surrounds someone or something.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

We took the word "grimoire" directly from French, where it's an alternate form of the word grammaire, meaning "a grammar, a magical incantation, or a book of either." Grammaire traces back further through Latin to the Greek phrase grammatike tekhnē, meaning "the art of letters."

Since 1849 or so, we've used the word "grimoire" in English to mean "a book of magic," often "a book of instructions for working dark magic, such as conjuring up demons."

In a much looser sense, a grimoire can be a text full of instructions for doing things that seem magic and/or evil.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "His grimoire is hidden in the attic;" "Hang on, let me consult my grimoires."

Other forms:

Just the plural, "grimoires."

how to use it:

Pick the rare, spooky word "grimoire" to strike a whimsical or academic tone as you talk literally about any witchy or wizardly spellbook, or as you talk figuratively about any informative or instructional text that seems evil or magic.

examples:

"[In the anime series Black Clover,] Asta is an orphan from the poorest outskirts of a kingdom in a magical fantasy world... Using his guts and a strange black grimoire, Asta works to reach his goal and be acknowledged by the country’s other mages, even though he has no magic himself."
— D. M. Moore, The Guardian, 2 October 2017

"I have a burning question--what do you do with all of these sheets of paper once the video's over? Do you just have like, grimoires of intense [music theory] knowledge everywhere?"
— Emmas415, commenter; 12Tone: Understanding Heart's "Alone;" 2023

has this page helped you understand "grimoire"?

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Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "grimoire" without saying "spell book" or "conjuring book."

try it out:

Writing for the Guardian, Laurie Penny likens the book The Female Eunuch to a grimoire in a fairytale, saying she felt drawn to it and compelled by it. Reading it made her feel "like a striplight had been switched on in [her] mind."

Have you had the same experience? Is there some book that has (or once had) a mysterious power over you? If so, what book is it, and would you, too, liken it to a grimoire? Why or why not?

If you've never had that experience, what would a book have to do for you to function like a grimoire?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for April is "Interpret the Titles: Tim Curry Edition!"

Are you a fan of Tim Curry? (How could anyone not be?) Did you know his birthday is in April? I didn't until I looked it up, but it’s the perfect excuse to base this month's game on his filmography.

I'll give you the title of some show, movie, or video game that Tim Curry has starred in, along with a summary, and I'll challenge you to interpret the title in three different ways.

To see some examples, and some tips if you get stuck, head here!

Try this one today: "Armchair Theatre" was a 1956-1974 TV show that guest-starred Tim Curry in 1973 as an underground filmmaker named Mik. IMDb describes the whole show as "a British television drama anthology series of single plays," with both original content and content from writers like "Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens, A.A. Milne, H.G. Wells, Alexandre Dumas, Ray Bradbury" and more. An IMDb user commented that "there are some [episodes] which are not worth watching, unless you need sleeping pills, but there is a batch very very good, even better than some movie theater, movies." The episode with Tim Curry was about "Shirley and Clive, a happy and affluent married couple" who "find their preconceptions questioned by Mik... as they become ever more involved with his latest project." Although the series produced 426 plays in total, Wikipedia notes that "not all of the plays from the original series survive in the archives, owing either to live plays not being recorded or to recordings being destroyed."

1. It's titled "Armchair Theatre" because... ?

2. It's titled "Armchair Theatre" because... ?

3. It's titled "Armchair Theatre" because... ?

To see some possible answers, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. A near opposite of a GRIMOIRE could be

A. a way to find peace, like meditation.
B. a holy book of stories, like a Bible.
C. a particular way of eating, like keto.

2. If the McGuffin of a movie (the object that all the characters are chasing) is a grimoire, then the characters are probably all greedy for _____.

A. fame
B. money
C. mystical powers

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GRIMOIRE

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