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vine

[vahyn]
See more synonyms for vine on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any plant having a long, slender stem that trails or creeps on the ground or climbs by winding itself about a support or holding fast with tendrils or claspers.
  2. the stem of any such plant.
  3. a grape plant.
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Origin of vine

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French vi(g)ne < Latin vīnea vine(yard), equivalent to vīn(um) wine + -ea, feminine of -eus -eous
Related formsvine·less, adjectivevine·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vines

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The moon came up after awhile, and streamed in through the vines of the porch.

    The Little Colonel

    Annie Fellows Johnston

  • The muses, like vines, may be pruned, but not with a hatchet.

  • Homer pictures the youths and the maidens pressing the vines together.

    The Truth About Woman

    C. Gasquoine Hartley

  • I plunged into the avenue of the vines leading to the grotto.

    A Hero of Our Time

    M. Y. Lermontov

  • Fruit trees, Turkey corn, vines, and flax flourished in luxuriance.

    Vivian Grey

    Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli

British Dictionary definitions for vines

vine

noun
  1. any of various plants, esp the grapevine, having long flexible stems that creep along the ground or climb by clinging to a support by means of tendrils, leafstalks, etc
  2. the stem of such a plant
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Derived Formsvined, adjectivevineless, adjectivevinelike, adjectiveviny, adjective

Word Origin

C13: from Old French vine, from Latin vīnea vineyard, from vīneus belonging to wine, from vīnum wine

Vine

noun
  1. Barbara. See (Ruth) Rendell
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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 vines

vine

n.

c.1300, from Old French vigne, from Latin vinea "vine, vineyard," from vinum "wine," from PIE *win-o-, from an Italic noun related to words for "wine" in Greek, Armenian, Hittite, and non-Indo-European Georgian and West Semitic (cf. Hebrew yayin, Ethiopian wayn); probably ultimately from a lost Mediterranean language word *w(o)in- "wine." The European grape vine was imported to California via Mexico by priests in 1564.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with vines

vine

see clinging vine; wither on the vine.

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