I heard through the grapevine that she's quitting.
hear through the grapevine
idiomTo hear rumors; to learn through hearsay.
Origin
first recorded 19th c.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.
No one told me directly; I just heard through the grapevine that the office is moving.
Though the company had issued no official statement, investors had already heard through the grapevine that the merger was collapsing.
- 01
hear out
To listen to someone until that person has finished speaking; to thoroughly consider all aspects of someone's argument.
- 02
hear the end of it
To cease to be told about, or nagged because of, something.
- 03
hear the grass grow
To have an extremely sensitive sense of hearing.
- 04
hear things
To imagine that one hears sounds that are not actually real; to have auditory hallucinations.
- 05
hear voices
Have the experience of hearing voices which are not audible to others; to experience auditory hallucinations.
- 06
I can't hear you over the sound of
Said to dismiss what the interlocutor is saying.
- 07
long time no hear
I haven't heard from you for a long time.
- 08
one could hear a pin drop
Extremely quiet, for example, as during a lull in a normally bustling place or scene, or at a sudden dramatic or tense moment.