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grape

[greyp]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR grape ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the edible, pulpy, smooth-skinned berry or fruit that grows in clusters on vines of the genus Vitis, and from which wine is made.

any vine bearing this fruit.

a dull, dark, purplish-red color.

grapes, (used with a singular verb) Veterinary Pathology.

tuberculosis occurring in cattle, characterized by the internal formation of grapelike clusters, especially in the lungs.
tuberculosis occurring in horses, characterized by grapelike clusters on the fetlocks.

the grape, wine.

Origin of grape

1200–50; Middle English < Old French, variant of crape cluster of fruit or flowers, originally hook (for pruning vines) < Germanic; compare GermanKrapf hook and grapple, grapnel

Related formsgrape·like, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for grapes

wine, origin, generation, collection, epoch, era, harvest, year

Examples from the Web for grapes

Contemporary Examples of grapes

Enforcement of U.S Code, Title VII, Chapter 25A “Export Standards for Grapes and Plums” remains fully funded, thank goodness.
Congress’ Gift That Keeps on Giving
P. J. O’Rourke
December 20, 2014
When you think of what it takes to make your favorite spirit, ingredients like grapes, barley, or herbs probably come to mind.
How Much Do Whisky Casks Really Affect Taste?
December 10, 2014
They have putrid California grapes for eyes, puffed-out cheeks of spoiled plums, sweltered eggplant lips.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq
Nathan Bradley Bethea
August 31, 2014
“Some day, the armies of bitterness will all be going the same way,” he wrote in Grapes.
Is There a Ma Joad for the Piketty Era?
Katie Baker
July 1, 2014
Grapes are sun-dried on straw for 10 to 12 days, then aged inside French oak barrels.
Book a Room for Two in a Santorini Cave
Joanna Eede
June 10, 2014

Historical Examples of grapes

Each of the guests had now taken his bunch of grapes upon his plate.
The Miraculous Pitcher
Nathaniel Hawthorne
There was a pretty good bunch of grapes for each of the guests.
The Miraculous Pitcher
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Gather the grapes when they are full grown, but before they begin to purple.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
He brought no money, no coral from foreign parts, nor news of grapes in Eshcol.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
It was a bunch of grapes gilded and set below three small barrels.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis

British Dictionary definitions for grapes

grapes

noun

(functioning as singular) vet science archaic an abnormal growth, resembling a bunch of grapes, on the fetlock of a horse

grape

noun

the fruit of the grapevine, which has a purple or green skin and sweet flesh: eaten raw, dried to make raisins, currants, or sultanas, or used for making wine

any of various plants that bear grapelike fruit, such as the Oregon grape

See grapevine (def. 1)

the grape an informal term for wine

Derived Formsgrapeless, adjectivegrapelike, adjective

Word Origin for grape

C13: from Old French grape bunch of grapes, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German krāpfo; related to cramp ², grapple

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for grapes

grape

n.

mid-13c., from Old French grape "bunch of grapes, grape" (12c.), probably a back-formation from graper "steal; grasp; catch with a hook; pick (grapes)," from a Frankish or other Germanic word, from Proto-Germanic *krappon "hook" (cf. Middle Dutch crappe, Old High German krapfo "hook;" also see cramp (n.2)). The original notion perhaps was "vine hook for grape-picking." The vine is not native to England. The word replaced Old English winberige "wine berry." Spanish grapa, Italian grappa also are Germanic loan-words.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with grapes

grape

see sour grapes.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.