grapevine

Etymology

It is formed from English grape + vine.^[2][3][4][5] The sense of unofficial news comes from the phrase “grapevine telegraph”.^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged thinks the grapevine was probably seen as a humble substitute for a telegraph line,^[6] and the OED notes that sources from the first half of the 19th century tie the plant to friendship and gossip, so that its twining tendrils and vigorous growth may have suggested news spreading among friends.^[2] Etymonline connects the phrase with the American Civil War, in reference to Southerners under Northern occupation and also to black communities and runaway slaves;^[3] the OED records the suggestion that it first meant a way of passing information among enslaved African Americans trying to escape, but finds that the early instances do not support it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A vine that bears grapes: 1654, in the Early Records of the Town of Providence, Rhode Island.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged give 1736,^[3][6] the Shorter Oxford the mid 18th century,^[4] and Dictionary.com 1645–55.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The revised OED takes the informal news network back to 1855, in a Baton Rouge newspaper,^[2] well before Etymonline's 1863 and Dictionary.com's 1860–65.^[3][5] A book of 1863 on Rosecrans's campaign describes the grapevine telegraph at Nashville as a source of false reports meant to fire Southern feeling and annoy the Yankees.^[3] From this came the sense of a rumour or invented story, from 1863, now rare in the OED's view;^[2][6] in 1864 a prison account could shorten it to a grape.^[7] By 1928 it was used for the secret system of communication among prisoners,^[7] and in 1939 R. Chandler could write of tapping the grapevine.^[7] Three more technical uses are recorded: a figure-skating movement (1862), a wrestling hold (1869) and a dance step (1891).^[2] American criminal slang of 1927 also had grape vine for a washing line.^[7]

Timeline

• 1654 – a vine that bears grapes.^[2]
• 1855 – an informal means of passing on news.^[2]
• 1862 – in figure skating, a movement with both skates on the ice.^[2]
• 1863 – a rumour or untrue story.^[2][3]
• 1869 – a wrestling hold with the leg wrapped around an opponent's.^[2]
• 1891 – a sideways dance step with one foot crossed behind the other.^[2]
• 1927 – in slang, a washing line.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A climbing vine of the genus Vitis that bears grapes.^[8][2]
2. (informal) An unofficial means of passing news or rumour from person to person, often in on or through the grapevine: We heard about the merger through the grapevine.^[8][6][2][4]
3. (rare) A rumour or invented story.^[2][6]
4. (wrestling) A hold in which a wrestler wraps a leg around the opponent's leg.^[8][2]
5. (figure skating) A movement with both skates on the ice, travelling in one direction.^[2]
6. A dance step or exercise movement in which one foot crosses behind the other while moving sideways.^[2]

Related words

• grape
• vine

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins