grapevine
noun
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grapevine
1 American
[greyp-vahyn]
/ ˈgreɪpˌvaɪn /
Grapevine
2
American
[greyp-vahyn]
/ ˈgreɪpˌvaɪn /
noun
grapevine
British
/ ˈɡreɪpˌvaɪn /
noun
-
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grapevine
1645–55; 1860–65, grapevine for def. 2; grape + vine
Explanation
The grapevine is a word for gossip. Anything heard on the grapevine was learned by word of mouth. In the Civil War, a grapevine telegraph was a gadget used for communicating. From there, people started talking about "the grapevine" as a source of information, especially gossip. If you heard from a friend of a friend that another friend is getting married, you heard it on the grapevine. If your cousin's cousin told you about a family scandal, you heard it on the grapevine. The grapevine is unofficial and full of hearsay: what you hear might not be accurate.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Online patient communities work a lot like a neighborhood grapevine," says Ungar.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
Sutton says that she’s heard through the gallery grapevine that “even galleries that haven’t closed are struggling,” adding that “it’s a hard time for everybody.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
Some reporters have gotten Trump’s digits through the grapevine or from colleagues; at least one simply asked him.
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026
Bill Musgrave, then the Golden Bears’ offensive coordinator, had heard about Mendoza through the coaching grapevine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
“I put in the grapevine, too,” El Patron said.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
There are only a few spots where the big, brawny Interstate 5 overlaps with the old Ridge Routes, mostly for a short bit above the town of Grapevine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
"We wouldn't encourage willingly driving your vehicle into the water," said Katharina Gamboa of the Grapevine Police Department, in comments reported by the BBC's US news partner CBS News.
From BBC ● May 20, 2026
The event, organized by the American Conservative Union, launched with an international summit on March 25, 2026, and runs through March 28 in Grapevine, Texas.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
“Tastefully updated 1,685-square-foot single-family home in the heart of Grapevine, famously known as Post Malone’s childhood home,” the listing notes.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 18, 2026
It was called Grapevine because these grapevines twined around the house and arbors.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Kentucky Narratives by Work Projects Administration
Just 50 miles from the thriving Somerset grapevines, Phil Collins shows me a much sadder sight.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
"I think this decline is very regrettable," Tariq Lenny Bas, who grew up among the grapevines of western Austria, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
In the Bakersfield area, where a recent Border Patrol operation lasted for days and led to dozens of arrests, Paula Flores voiced worries about deportation as she pruned a row of grapevines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2025
While they feed on more than 100 different plant species, they have a particular affinity for grapevines and a tree known as the “tree of heaven.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2024
Dionysus waved his hand, and a new chair grew out of the ground next to Silenus’s—a throne made of grapevines.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
