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What does "dying on the vine" mean?
I saw this sentence in a novel. I looked it up in the dictionary but there is no such a phrase.
The full sentence in the novel is "You are dying on the vine to know what I think."
Thanks for the help.
Mar 3, 2013 6:13 AM
Answers · 6
1
It's an idiom referencing grapes. A grape, left unpicked, will sit in place and wither away if left too long. It basically means, "You want to know so badly that it's killing you".
March 3, 2013
1
"To be dying to...(verb)" means the person desperately wants to do that action. Adding "on the vine" creates a new analogy to exaggerate the idiom. The full phrase is a creation of the writer, so if you tried using it, you'd sound a little too clever for your own good.
March 3, 2013
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tuziyf
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Korean
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English, French, Korean
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