grapevine
See also: Grapevine
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
grapevine (plural grapevine or grapevines)
- The plant, a vine of genus Vitis, on which grapes grow.
- Synonym: winetree
- Although many grape vines have geographical names, those rarely reflect their real origin, if known at all.
- A rumor.
- 1937 February, Hudson Hawley, “There IS a Saluting Demon”, in American Legion Monthly[1], volume 22, number 2, page 23:
- The legend, like all army grapevine, got around to me.
- 2009, Sinikiwe Joyce Msindo, Sweet Lemons, page 9:
- 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.
- 2020 January 13, “Pullela Gopichand blames Prakash Padukone for encouraging Saina Nehwal to leave Hyderabad”, in ESPN:
- The grapevine was that Saina believed that Gopichand was focussing more on PV Sindhu.·
- An informal person-to-person means of circulating information or gossip.
- Synonyms: jungle drums, bush telegraph, jungle telegraph, mulga wire, rumor mill
- I heard through the grapevine that Jim will be leaving soon.
- 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:
- 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.
- 1966, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (songwriters), "I Heard It Through the Grapevine":
- I heard it through the grapevine
- Not much longer would you be mine.
- 2010, Don Briddell, The Republic of Crisfield, page 89:
- The grapevine was so fast that sometimes news was circulated before it happened.
- (skating) 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.
- (wrestling) A leglock.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
the plant on which grapes grow
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informal means of circulating gossip
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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VerbEdit
grapevine (third-person singular simple present grapevines, present participle grapevining, simple past and past participle grapevined)
- (transitive, wrestling) To restrain in a leglock.