grapevine
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɹeɪp.vaɪn/
Forms: form: grapevines
form: grape vine
form: grape-vine
Etymology: From grape + vine.
Senses: examples: text: Although many grapevines have geographical names, these rarely reflect their real origin, if known at all.
synonyms: word: winetree
glosses: The plant, a vine of genus Vitis, on which grapes grow.
examples: text: I heard through the grapevine that Jim will be leaving soon.
text: The Bat—they called him the Bat. […] Most lone wolves had a moll at any rate—women were their ruin—but if the Bat had a moll, not even the grapevine telegraph could locate her.
ref: 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, pages 6–7:
text: I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine.
ref: 1966, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (songwriters), "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
text: The grapevine was so fast that sometimes news was circulated before it happened.
ref: 2010, Don Briddell, The Republic of Crisfield, page 89:
synonyms: jungle drums
bush telegraph
jungle telegraph
mulga wire
rumor mill
glosses: An informal person-to-person means of circulating information or gossip.
examples: text: The legend, like all army grapevine, got around to me.
ref: 1937 February, Hudson Hawley, “There IS a Saluting Demon”, in American Legion Monthly, volume 22, number 2, page 23:
text: The grapevine was that the reason for the school closure was to do with the fact that a lot of students from Bonda had absconded to go to war because Bonda was close to the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
ref: 2009, Sinikiwe Joyce Msindo, Sweet Lemons, page 9:
text: An image of Mohanlal with a tonsured head recently spread online and people started guessing about the film it belonged to. The majority guess was for a film directed by Prajith which had announced a character that was supposed to be acted by Mohanlal named Benz Vasu. But the director denied the grapevine and more guesses and assumptions starting flowing in.
ref: 2016, indiaglitz.com, "Thampi Kannanthanam confirms that Mohanlal's Rajavinte Makan Sequel not dropped" https://www.indiaglitz.com/thampi-kannanthanam-confirms-that-mohanlals-rajavinte-makan-sequel-not-dropped-malayalam-news-174624
text: The grapevine was that Saina believed that Gopichand was focussing more on PV Sindhu.·
ref: 2020 January 13, “Pullela Gopichand blames Prakash Padukone for encouraging Saina Nehwal to leave Hyderabad”, in ESPN:
qualifier: apparently primarily Indian English
glosses: A rumor.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
skating
sports
glosses: A move in which the feet are alternately placed in front of each other, while both remaining on the ice or ground, incorporating half-turns.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
wrestling
glosses: A leglock.
glosses: A dance figure in partner dancing that includes sidesteps and steps across the support foot. See Grapevine (dance move).
Derived terms: grapevine effect
grapevine knot
grapevine moth
grapevine weevil
hear something through the grapevine
hear on the grapevine
Koori grapevine
Murri grapevine