| 释义 |
ˈgrape-vine Now chiefly U.S. and Austral.
V. vinifera.
1736Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Grape-vine, a vine. 1844Marg. Fuller Wom. 19th C. (1862) 59 An isle..perfumed by the blossoming grape-vine which draped its bowers. 1851Longfellow Gold. Leg. ii. v. Foot of Alps, Blossoms of grape-vines scent the sunny air. 1884Roe Nat. Ser. Story x. in Harper's Mag. Sept. 537/1 The grape-vine..can endure an unusual degree of drought.
2. In various applied senses:
a. Orig., a canard: current during the American civil war, and shortened from ‘a despatch by grape-vine telegraph’ (Funk's Stand. Dict.). Now in general use to indicate the route by which a rumour or a piece of information (often of a secret or private nature) is passed.
a1867B. F. Willson Old Sergeant vii. (Funk) Just another foolish grape-vine. 1891Century Mag. Mar. 713/2 The ‘grape-vine’ spoke to us of little else. 1934J. T. Farrell Studs Lonigan (1936) ii. xv. 337 Down there at that express company they find out about everything a guy does. They got the best grapevine in the world. 1948Daily Tel. 3 Sept. 4/5 The guerrillas know the jungle, and they have an almost incredible ‘grapevine’ which gets information from one State to another with uncanny speed. 1955Times 11 June 9/6 Of the younger men, the Moscow grape-vine reported that Mr. Shepilov, editor of Pravda, was coming forward to strengthen the party theoreticians. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed vii. 54 Hurrying a message through the grapevine to the trafficker. 1970New Yorker 3 Oct. 100/2 The art-world grapevine buzzed with rumors.
b. A hold in wrestling (Farmer).
1968T. Clayton Handbk. Wrestling Terms & Holds 103 (caption) Double grapevine with arm tieup.
c. A figure in skating.
1868G. Anderson Skating iii. (ed. 2) 36 The Canadian Grape-Vine..I saw it beautifully performed last winter, and it looks like a curious interlacing and juggling of the feet. 1903Westm. Gaz. 30 Dec. 3/2 The expert dons his skates and glides..off with the air of one to whom threes, grape-vines,..and other mysterious figures are..familiar. 1952Visc. Templewood in Skating with T. D. Richardson xiii. 104 In days long ago it was the fashion to perform a series of two-footed movements called grapevines.
3. attrib., as grape-vine journalist, grape-vine method, grape-vine moth, grape-vine rumour, grape-vine telegraph (see 2 a), grape-vine telegraphic adj., grape-vine weevil, grape-vine wire.
1959Economist 4 Apr. 20/2 The grapevine journalists have been listening; up to Thursday morning the grapevine still had not yielded any word.
1942Daily Tel. 31 Aug. 3/4 Each province is presumed to have a leader..whose instructions are transmitted by ‘grapevine’ methods from one person to another. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 326/1 The caterpillars of the grapevine moth, which found its way to New Zealand from Australia in recent years, depredate vines by devouring the foliage and damaging the developing grapes.
1941Auden New Year Let. iii. 61 The careless victor never knew Their grape⁓vine rumour would grow true.
1889Farmer Americanisms s.v., During the Civil War exciting news of battles not fought and victories not won were said to be received by grape-vine telegraph. 1936J. G. Brandon Pawnshop Murder iii. 26 I'll see what I can get over the ‘grapevine’ telegraph. 1951John o' London's 17 Aug. 494/2 First with the news was..the little old man who cleans our windows... He is our grapevine telegraph. 1953X. Fielding Stronghold i. i. 5, I had long ago ceased to wonder at the workings of their grape-vine telegraph.
1864in Southern Hist. Soc. Papers (1876) I. 437 Many ‘grape-vine’ telegraphic reports are afloat in camp. 1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Oct. 326/1 The grapevine weevil can cause considerable damage by eating the leaves, shoots, and bunches.
1907J. L. Given Making Newspaper xiii. 230 Not often does a telegraph editor..manufacture news, or, in the vernacular, employ the ‘grapevine wire’. |