From David Emery,
Your Guide to Urban Legends.
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A. Rumor: an assertion or set of assertions widely repeated as true though its veracity is unconfirmed.

Though unreliable by their very nature, rumors can prove to be factually true, however. "Rumor is not always wrong," noted Tacitus, the Roman historian. The crux of the matter isn't truth or falsehood per se, but the absence of verification.

While they are similar in that and other respects to urban legends — indeed, on occasion it's difficult to tell the two kinds of folklore apart — rumors differ from legends in that they're shorter-lived and aren't typically passed along in narrative form. ("A legend is an actual story of doubtful truth," notes folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, "whereas a rumor is just an unverified report.")

A given rumor may be either spontaneous or premeditated in origin. It may consist of opinion represented as fact; a nugget of truth garbled or misrepresented to the point of falsehood; half-truths exaggerated; or outright, intentional lies.

Sociologists have identified three main types of rumors:

• "Pipe dream" or wish-fulfillment rumors, expressing the wishes and hopes of those who circulate them.
• "Bogie" or anxiety rumors, expressing the fears of those who circulate them.
• "Wedge-driving" or divisive rumors, motivated by aggression, prejudice, or hatred on the part of those circulating them.

Further reading:

Managing the Grapevine
Excerpts from a lengthy article by Dr. Jitendra M. Mishra exploring many facets of rumors and hearsay as they relate to corporate culture.