ˈgrape-vine Now chiefly U.S. and Austral.
V. vinifera.
| 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Grape-vine, a vine. 1844 Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 59 An isle..perfumed by the blossoming grape-vine which draped its bowers. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. ii. v. Foot of Alps, Blossoms of grape-vines scent the sunny air. 1884 Roe Nat. Ser. Story x. in Harper's Mag. Sept. 537/1 The grape-vine..can endure an unusual degree of drought. |
2. In various applied senses:
a. Orig., a canard: current during the American civil war, and shortened from ‘a despatch by grape-vine telegraph’ (Funk's
Stand. Dict.). Now in general use to indicate the route by which a rumour or a piece of information (often of a secret or private nature) is passed.
| a 1867 B. F. Willson Old Sergeant vii. (Funk) Just another foolish grape-vine. 1891 Century Mag. Mar. 713/2 The ‘grape-vine’ spoke to us of little else. 1934 J. T. Farrell Studs Lonigan (1936) ii. xv. 337 Down there at that express company they find out about everything a guy does. They got the best grapevine in the world. 1948 Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 4/5 The guerrillas know the jungle, and they have an almost incredible ‘grapevine’ which gets information from one State to another with uncanny speed. 1955 Times 11 June 9/6 Of the younger men, the Moscow grape-vine reported that Mr. Shepilov, editor of Pravda, was coming forward to strengthen the party theoreticians. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed vii. 54 Hurrying a message through the grapevine to the trafficker. 1970 New Yorker 3 Oct. 100/2 The art-world grapevine buzzed with rumors. |
b. A hold in wrestling (Farmer).
| 1968 T. Clayton Handbk. Wrestling Terms & Holds 103 (caption) Double grapevine with arm tieup. |
c. A figure in skating.
| 1868 G. Anderson Skating iii. (ed. 2) 36 The Canadian Grape-Vine..I saw it beautifully performed last winter, and it looks like a curious interlacing and juggling of the feet. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 30 Dec. 3/2 The expert dons his skates and glides..off with the air of one to whom threes, grape-vines,..and other mysterious figures are..familiar. 1952 Visc. Templewood in Skating with T. D. Richardson xiii. 104 In days long ago it was the fashion to perform a series of two-footed movements called grapevines. |
3. attrib., as
grape-vine journalist,
grape-vine method,
grape-vine moth,
grape-vine rumour,
grape-vine telegraph (see 2 a),
grape-vine telegraphic adj.,
grape-vine weevil,
grape-vine wire.
| 1959 Economist 4 Apr. 20/2 The grapevine journalists have been listening; up to Thursday morning the grapevine still had not yielded any word. |
| 1942 Daily Tel. 31 Aug. 3/4 Each province is presumed to have a leader..whose instructions are transmitted by ‘grapevine’ methods from one person to another. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 326/1 The caterpillars of the grapevine moth, which found its way to New Zealand from Australia in recent years, depredate vines by devouring the foliage and damaging the developing grapes. |
| 1941 Auden New Year Let. iii. 61 The careless victor never knew Their grape⁓vine rumour would grow true. |
| 1889 Farmer Americanisms s.v., During the Civil War exciting news of battles not fought and victories not won were said to be received by grape-vine telegraph. 1936 J. G. Brandon Pawnshop Murder iii. 26 I'll see what I can get over the ‘grapevine’ telegraph. 1951 John o' London's 17 Aug. 494/2 First with the news was..the little old man who cleans our windows... He is our grapevine telegraph. 1953 X. Fielding Stronghold i. i. 5, I had long ago ceased to wonder at the workings of their grape-vine telegraph. |
| 1864 in Southern Hist. Soc. Papers (1876) I. 437 Many ‘grape-vine’ telegraphic reports are afloat in camp. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 326/1 The grapevine weevil can cause considerable damage by eating the leaves, shoots, and bunches. |
| 1907 J. L. Given Making Newspaper xiii. 230 Not often does a telegraph editor..manufacture news, or, in the vernacular, employ the ‘grapevine wire’. |