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rumour
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
rumour
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
baseless rumours/charges/accusations
deny a rumour
▪ Their chief executive denied rumours of the company’s decline.
excite rumoursBritish English, excite rumors AmE:
▪ The photographs excited rumours that their marriage is over.
fuel speculation/rumours/controversy etc
▪ Progress was slow, fueling concerns that the stadium would not be finished on time.
malicious gossip/rumour
▪ Who is responsible for these malicious rumours?
quashed rumours
▪ A hospital chief executive has quashed rumours that people will lose their jobs.
Rumours...circulating
▪ Rumours began circulating that the Prime Minister was seriously ill.
squash rumours/hopes/reports etc (=say that a rumour etc is not true)
▪ The government was quick to squash any hopes of reform.
starting rumours
▪ Other girls were starting rumours about me.
unfounded rumours/claims/allegations etc
▪ Unfounded rumours began circulating that Ian and Susan were having an affair.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
mill
▪ The rumour mill, however, is full of likely failures.
▪ This year the Treasury rumour mill has been working overtime.
■ VERB
hear
▪ I'd be very interested to hear what the next rumour is ... but I don't really have anything to say.
▪ Then you hear a rumour: a woman in the next ward has had a stillbirth.
▪ But if Solveig had heard such a rumour she had not believed it.
▪ He was such a dear old thing, although she had heard a rumour about him and Sylvia.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
rumour/legend/word has it
▪ After all, stranger things have happened: legend has it that the hooked burrs of plants inspired the invention of Velcro.
▪ And rumour has it that the big-name band will be outrageous rockers Guns N' Roses.
▪ But word has it that the Tucson Symphony is taking over the building sometime in mid-December.
▪ His name is cited in the four gospels. Legend has it that he obtained the holy grail from the last supper.
▪ It started with a cross placed along the railroad tracks, where legend has it that he was lynched.
▪ Pass the spliff, mon. Word has it the band is compelling as hell in person.
▪ This was initiated, so legend has it, when the lavatories were out of order.
▪ Turn right to the Cerne Giant viewing point. Legend has it that a real giant terrorised the locals.
rumours/accusations etc are flying
unconfirmed report/story/rumour etc
▪ A U. S. Embassy official said he had unconfirmed reports of 300 dead.
▪ Horrors include the bombing of civilians and unconfirmed reports that napalm has been used.
▪ One unconfirmed report said Hamilton had intended to take the children hostage but that his plan went awry.
▪ Several commercial tests are available but there are few and unconfirmed reports of their efficacy.
▪ The whereabouts of Pastor Tokes remained unclear, amid unconfirmed reports that he had been murdered.
▪ There were unconfirmed reports that two activists were killed.
▪ We have an unconfirmed report of shots fired in the area of Brandenburg Gate.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Rumour has it that there will be major job cuts in the new year.
▪ Have you heard the rumour about him and his secretary?
▪ I don't think he's going to resign. It's only a rumour.
▪ Someone's been spreading nasty rumours about me.
▪ The band denied the rumours that they may be splitting up.
▪ The truth finally came out after months of rumour and gossip.
▪ There were rumours of bombings in the northern part of the country.
▪ What's this rumour about you and Vince Foster?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Bored dowagers with wisps snuggling on the shoulders, whispering flattery and malicious rumour in their perfectly sculpted ears.
▪ Despite his wonderfully unattractive and humourless appearance, his exotic origins none the less gave rise to an extraordinary rumour.
▪ I report what I feel, as well as the rumour that is spreading.
▪ If possible, track the rumour back to its origin.
▪ The possibility of penal cancellation charges in the public domain is a rumour.
▪ Their untrained but nervous eyes, and rumour, vastly exaggerated both the ferocity and size of the advancing army.
▪ You find there's nothing to it, a false rumour.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
rumour

Rumor \Ru"mor\, n. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.] [Written also rumour.]

  1. A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety.

    This rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.
    --Luke vii. 17.

    Great is the rumor of this dreadful knight.
    --Shak.

  2. A current story passing from one person to another, without any known authority for its truth; -- in this sense often personified.

    Rumor next, and Chance, And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled.
    --Milton.

  3. A prolonged, indistinct noise. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
rumour

chiefly British English spelling of rumor; see -or. Related: Rumoured; rumouring.

Wiktionary
rumour

n. 1 (alternative spelling of rumor from=British from2=Canadian from3=New Zealand from4=Australia from5=Ireland English) 2 (context obsolete English) A prolonged, indistinct noise.

Related phrases:
WordNet
rumour

  1. n. gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of mouth [syn: rumor, hearsay]

  2. v. tell or spread rumors; "It was rumored that the next president would be a woman" [syn: rumor, bruit]

Wikipedia
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "rumour".

Those three literati were the Marquis Maffei, the Abbe Conti, and Pierre Jacques Martelli, who became enemies, according to public rumour, owing to the belief entertained by each of them that he possessed the favours of the actress, and, being men of learning, they fought with the pen.

There were also rumours and fairytales: of alien digs beneath the crust, evidence that the chasm had in some sense been artefactual, if not necessarily deliberate.

Rumour, however, was astir, and as I had powerful friends, so, too, I had the powerful enemies which envy must always be breeding for men in high places such as mine.

Leigh, we will ride over and call upon some of our neighbours to hear the last news, for the Bocage is as far away from Nantes as if it were on the other side of France, and we hear only vague rumours of what is going on here.

Senator Bryk, your members have been complaining about the number of their electors coming to speak to them about these Morlider rumours.

The Princess Dowager, extremely anxious as to what had happened to Lord Bute, for she had heard rumours of his ride through the City, was very angry.

The lieutenant came in, and informed me that the peasants were gathering in the neighbourhood of my house to defend me, because a rumour had spread through the island that the felucca had been sent with orders to arrest me and take me to Corfu.

Rogue on the tremble of detection Rumour for the nonce had a stronger spice of truth than usual She can make puddens and pies The born preacher we feel instinctively to be our foe There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness Those days of intellectual coxcombry Troublesome appendages of success Woman will be the last thing civilized by Man End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Ordeal Richard Feverel, v1 by George Meredith THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL By GEORGE MEREDITH 1905 BOOK 2.

He has already heard rumours that Rebin will recall many of the culled cadets from previous years, to try to rebuild a corps of officers for the future.

Even Ewart, that drug-addled cunt, was a top deejay and rumoured to be a millionaire.

No men from Derb Yassin were out searching through the narrow alleys of the Mellah, fired up on rumours and outrage.

I was not spared by public rumour, but I took no notice of it, for I did not think it necessary to defend myself.

He had heard too many tales from the other mages in the Corps -rumours of rooms where magic would not operate and where a wizard could be imprisoned, as Ingold had been imprisoned in the doorless cell of Karst.

Clare, after registering that Gis was as handsome as rumour had said, had been looking eagerly about her, at the crowds, at the massed cars, and the big stand in the far distance where the King and Queen were seated.

Everybody gave me credit for a piece of fortune which I had not enjoyed, but I was not ill-pleased with the rumour, and went on dancing with the false abbe, who was only too charming.