grape

plural grapes

1. countableA small, round, smooth-skinned edible fruit, usually purple, red, or green, that grows in bunches on female vines of most species of genus Vitis and the self-fertile plants of species Vitis vinifera.

   Grapes give us whole-fruit snacks, grape juice, raisins, wine, and more.

2. countableuncountableAny woody vine of genus Vitis that bears clusters of grapes; a grapevine.

   wild grape covering the back slope

3. countableAny of various fruits or plants with varying resemblances to those of genus Vitis but belonging to other genera, not necessarily edible.

   sea grape; tail grape

4. countableuncountableA dark purplish-red colour, the colour of many grapes.

   For those seeking purply tones, the paint colors available include mauve, magenta, and grape.

5. abbreviationclippinguncountableClipping of grapeshot.

   men mowed down by grape

   1 more example

   The boarding-nettings were up, the guns double-shotted with grape and canister, and the swivels loaded with canisters of musket-balls.

   1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter XX, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, pages 165–166

6. countableuncountablemedicineA mangy tumour on a horse's leg.
7. UScountableslanguncountablegovernmentA purple-shirted technician responsible for refueling aircraft.

   I was horrified to see three grapes standing by the aircraft with the hose still connected.

   1998, Approach, volume 43, number 10, page 10

8. countableslanguncountableAfrican-American VernacularA person's head.

   Synonyms: bean, beaner, belfry, block, bonce, brainbox, brain bucket, calabash

comparative more grape · superlative most grape

1. Containing grapes or having a grape flavor.
2. Of a dark purplish red colour.

present singular third person grapes · participle present graping · participle past graped · past graped

1. To pick grapes.

   I used to go graping and blackberrying and blueberrying.

   1973, Nancy Safford, Time's Island; Portraits of the Vineyard, page 35

2. Of livestock, to develop tubercules as a result of tuberculosis.

   The lungs were in a bad condition, hard in places, and lumpy and badly graped.

   1891, Public Health - Volume 4, page 249

   2 more examples

   Some are called ticked; some have the milk fever; some have worm-'ith-tail ; some are graped ; others are broken-up old cows.

   1856, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Reports from Committees, page 138

   Do I understand that the carcases of the graped cows, to which you refer, were used for food ?

   1898, Great Britain Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, Report of the Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire Into the Administrative Procedures for Controlling Danger to Man Through the Use as Food of the Meat and Milk of Tuberculous Animals, page 245

3. To develop a texture with small grape-like clusters of a contaminant or foreign substance.

   Some small graped pisolitic textures are primary but not important.

   1991, Desheng Li, Tectonic types of oil and gas basins in China, page 162

   2 more examples

   Over the huge abraded rind, Crow-countries graped with dung, we go, Past gullies that no longer flow And wells that nobody can find, Lashed by the screaming of the crow, Stabbed by the needles of the mind.

   1932, Kenneth Slessor, Cuckooz Contrey

   An additional concern is the problem of graping, which becomes more visible when type-4 solder powder is required for fine-pitch μ-BGA attachment.

   2012, K. Subramanian, Lead-free Solders: Materials Reliability for Electronics, →ISBN, page 169

4. Northern UKTo grope.

   Aw graped my way out i' the dark, An' down the stairs aw scrafflel'd

   1836, William Stephenson Jr, Punch and Toby

   3 more examples

   Lang, lang I sought and graped for my pack, Till night and hunger forced me to come back.

   1780, Alexander Wilson, A Pedlar's Story

   I dinna ken,” said Steenie ; “ the book had fa'en out 0' his pocket, I fancy, for I fand it amang my feet when I was graping about to set him on his legs again, and I just pat it in my pouch to keep it safe ;

   1836, Walter Scott, The antiquary, page 56

   'Till in a declamation mist, His argument he tint it; He gapéd for't, he graped for't, He fand it was awa, man;

   1881, Robert Burns, The Two Lawyers, page 280

5. Hong KongTo envy (from sour grapes).

plural grapes

1. InternetcountableeuphemisticuncountableFilter-avoidance spelling of rape.

   Synonyms: 🍇

present singular third person grapes · participle present graping · participle past graped · past graped

1. InterneteuphemisticFilter-avoidance spelling of rape.

   Synonyms: 🍇