| Grape | n. [ OF. grape, crape, bunch or cluster of grapes, F. grappe, akin to F. grappin grapnel, hook; fr. OHG. chrapfo hook, G. krapfen, akin to E. cramp. The sense seems to have come from the idea of clutching. Cf. Agraffe, Cramp, Grapnel, Grapple. ] 1. (Bot.) A well-known edible berry growing in pendent clusters or bunches on the grapevine. The berries are smooth-skinned, have a juicy pulp, and are cultivated in great quantities for table use and for making wine and raisins. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Bot.) The plant which bears this fruit; the grapevine. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. (Man.) A mangy tumor on the leg of a horse. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. (Mil.) Grapeshot. [ 1913 Webster ]
Grape borer. (Zool.) See Vine borer. --
Grape curculio (Zool.), a minute black weevil (Craponius inæqualis) which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes. --
Grape flower, or
Grape hyacinth (Bot.), a liliaceous plant (Muscari racemosum) with small blue globular flowers in a dense raceme. --
Grape fungus (Bot.), a fungus (Oidium Tuckeri) on grapevines; vine mildew. --
Grape hopper (Zool.), a small yellow and red hemipterous insect, often very injurious to the leaves of the grapevine. --
Grape moth (Zool.), a small moth (Eudemis botrana), which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes, and often binds them together with silk. --
Grape of a cannon, the cascabel or knob at the breech. --
Grape sugar. See Glucose. --
Grape worm (Zool.), the larva of the grape moth. --
Sour grapes, things which persons affect to despise because they can not possess them; -- in allusion to Æsop's fable of the fox and the grapes. [ 1913 Webster ]
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| Grapeshot | n. (Mil.) A cluster, usually nine in number, of small iron balls, put together by means of cast-iron circular plates at top and bottom, with two rings, and a central connecting rod, in order to be used as a charge for a cannon. Formerly grapeshot were inclosed in canvas bags. [ 1913 Webster ] |
| Grapevine | n. (Bot.) A vine or climbing shrub, of the genus Vitis, having small green flowers and lobed leaves, and bearing the fruit called grapes. [ 1913 Webster ] ☞ The common grapevine of the Old World is Vitis vinifera, and is a native of Central Asia. Another variety is that yielding small seedless grapes commonly called Zante currants. The northern Fox grape of the United States is the V. Labrusca, from which, by cultivation, has come the Isabella variety. The southern Fox grape, or Muscadine, is the V. vulpina. The Frost grape is V. cordifolia, which has very fragrant flowers, and ripens after the early frosts. [ 1913 Webster ] |
