View synonyms for grapevine

grapevine

[ greyp-vahyn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a vine that bears grapes.
Also called grape·vine tel·e·graph [greyp, -vahyn , tel, -i-graf]. a person-to-person method of spreading rumors, gossip, information, etc., by informal or unofficial conversation, letter writing, or the like.
a private or secret source of information.

Grapevine

[ greyp-vahyn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

grapevine

/ ˈɡreɪpˌvaɪn /

any of several vitaceous vines of the genus Vitis, esp V. vinifera of E Asia, widely cultivated for its fruit (grapes): family Vitaceae
informal.
an unofficial means of relaying information, esp from person to person
a wrestling hold in which a wrestler entwines his own leg around his opponent's and exerts pressure against various joints

1645–55; 1860–65, Americanism grapevine fordef 2; grape + vine

The grapevine and the international media were alight with the buzz of the student killed by the police during the demonstration.

Prince Harry has heard on the grapevine that UK pop star Cheryl Cole has a crush on him - and finds it pretty funny.

Every Afghan will know, through radio and the grapevine, the news that Americans burned the Quran.

“I had heard that just from the grapevine so I went and asked her,” Morgan recalls.

So over the past four or five years, the censorship strategy shifted from memos to an “official grapevine” type of operation.

We had eaten our supper and were seated on the ground, under a high, branching tree into which was trained a huge grapevine.

We briskly project ourselves to and fro in a swing of Nature's own contriving, namely, the tendrils of the wild grapevine.

We need another axeman to clear away the fallen trees and break the nets of grapevine.

A corpse was bound to it by a binding of grapevine and the two ends of the stretcher rested upon the shoulders of the bearers.

The various applications recommended in this work for the destruction of insects, are useful on the grapevine.

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