grapevine
noun
grapevine
1 American
[grayp-vahyn]
/ ˈgreɪpˌvaɪn /
Grapevine
2
American
[grayp-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:
Pans heave with labor-intensive dishes like çalkama, a Turkish pastry, and yaprak sarma, grapevine leaves filled by hand with a mixture of rice, onions, tomatoes and herbs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
"Online patient communities work a lot like a neighborhood grapevine," says Ungar.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 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
What can be said is that the F1 grapevine suggests Mercedes have a small advantage over the other manufacturers on their internal combustion engine performance for 2026 so far.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2025
Who else would have a container made out of two huge sycamore leaves sewn together with wild grapevine thread and filled with daylily buds?
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
"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
Along the Interstate 5 corridor near the Grapevine, early California poppies are already appearing, even though a full bloom usually does not arrive until late April or early May.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
While attending Grapevine High School, he quickly became known as “Most Likely to Be Famous,” according to his classmates.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 18, 2026
He was heading across the Valley to the Grapevine Range, and the hateful imp of evil which had dogged him through the Panamints would have to come down and leave a trail.
From Wunpost by Dane Coolidge
UIV president Lamberto Frescobaldi, a 33rd-generation Tuscan winegrower, said he was also open to the idea of removing old or unviable grapevines.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
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
“It’s much faster to do, and makes a lot more sense, when you have an entire crew,” he admitted before discussing the tractors, the road trips and the grapevines that keep him grounded.
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2024
Right now, we don’t even have tomatoes, just rows and rows of grapevines.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
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