Etymology From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumour, rumor, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rewH- (“to shout, roar”).
1
UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Ireland spelling of rumor.
Rumour had it (though not proved) that she descended from the house of the lords Talbot de Malahide1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
There were rumours, new rumours every morning, delightful and outrageous rumours, so that the lumps in the porridge were swallowed without comment and the fish-cakes were eaten without contumely.1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
3 more examples
"Keep off Conductor Rails" said red-painted notices at the platform ends, for third-rails were laid in many places even where electric trains never normally ran, and there had been many rumours of impending electrification of the Wirral, as a natural extension of the Mersey system, a quarter of a century before the change was actually made.1954 March, W. A. Tuplin, “Recollections of the Wirral Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:
I myself gave support to the summoning of the Estates General ... as merely mistaken . Similarly it might be held that Paradise originated in a rumour invented in hell to make society the more interesting . ' ' We need a saviour .1969, Peter Vansittart, Pastimes of a Red Summer: A Novel, Owen, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 140:
Dame Rumour outstrides me yet again.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 18:
Prithee, listen well; / I heard a bustling rumour like a fray, / And the wind brings it from the Capitol.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 18:
Derived terms
rumourmonger
rumour
verb
Etymology From Middle English rumour, from Old French rumour, rumor, from Latin rūmor (“common talk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *rewH- (“to shout, roar”).
1
Commonwealth standard spelling of rumor.
Two of the four main routes over the Border were rumoured to be threatened with withdrawal of, or heavy cuts in, passenger services.1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Drastic cuts in Scotland?”, in Trains Illustrated, page 644: