hear through the grapevine

From the Grapevine, a telegraph line that ran from Placerville, California, to Virginia City, Nevada, beginning in 1859, and that was loosely strung from trees so that it curled like the vines of California grapes. In 1861 it was replaced by the Pacific Telegraph, which was strung from poles, and during the American Civil War "grapevine telegraph" became proverbialized to refer to poor and rumor-prone communications in areas cut off by the war.

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hear through the grapevine (third-person singular simple present hears through the grapevine, present participle hearing through the grapevine, simple past and past participle heard through the grapevine)

1. (idiomatic) To hear rumors; to learn through hearsay.

   I heard through the grapevine that she likes him.

   • 1966, Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, I Heard It Through the Grapevine:

     I heard it through the grapevine / Not much longer would you be mine

• hear on the grapevine
• hear on the bush telegraph