ghost meaning of the word

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10 Words With Unexpected Meanings

Words have meanings and some have more than one meaning. In the world of semantics, there are endless words and definitions behind them. Check out these 10 words with unexpected meanings to add to your vocabulary.

While the word enervate sounds remotely like energy, it’s quite the opposite. The verb enervate means to drain someone’s energy. The adjective enervated is being drained of energy.

Asnetic is a weird word for an awkward place in the body. It’s the place on your back between the shoulder blades. It’s a hard place to reach. The word isn’t always recognized by dictionaries, but it’s still a word and a body part.

Meldrop is a the word for mucus dripping from someone’s nose. The mucus could be a result of a cold or allergy. Use the word when you hand a tissue to a friend who’s sneezing.

Pusillanimous

The word pusillanimous is a long one and challenging to pronounce. It means lacking courage, being afraid. Something or someone can cause another to be pusillanimous.

There was nauseous and nauseated. Now, there’s the word nauseant. A nauseant causes nausea like a stomach bug, a scary amusement park ride or pregnancy hormones.

An agelast is someone who refuses to laugh. They have no sense of humor. The word’s syllables look like age last, but have no part of the definition.

A pot-valor is someone who takes on a sense of confidence and boldness as a result of drinking alcoholic beverages. The person might be louder and more jovial. They might sing karaoke or tell jokes.

Amatorculist

An amatorculist is someone with fake affection. They are insignificant in love. This could be a former lover.

Pulchritude

You’ve heard gorgeous, lovely and beautiful. Now, there’s the word pulchritude. Pulchritude means beauty.

Peristeronic

Peristeronic is a word relating to pigeons. Bird-watchers may be familiar with this obscure word. Next time you throw crumbs to pigeons, you’ll have a peristeronic sort of experience.

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Meaning of ghost in English

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ghost noun ( SPIRIT )

• A headless ghost walks the castle at night - or so the story goes.
• According to tradition , a headless ghost walks through the corridors of the house at night .
• The Society for Psychical Research is investigating reports of a ghost at the old vicarage .
• Have you ever seen a ghost?
• There's no such thing as ghosts.
• astral plane
• astral projection
• incorporeal
• necromancer
• reincarnation

ghost noun ( MEMORY )

• abiding memory
• associative memory
• at/in the back of your mind idiom
• confabulation
• corporate memory
• have a memory like an elephant idiom
• learn something by rote idiom
• live (on) in the memory idiom
• long memory
• memory bank
• rediscovery
• reminiscence
• short-term memory

ghost verb ( WRITE )

• Around 80 percent of celebrity books are ghosted .
• Tony is ghosting the memoirs of Eddie, an ex-con who went to prison for his part in a bullion robbery .
• He is a freelance writer who is ghosting an article for a corporate executive .
• bang something out
• bash something out
• borrow something from something
• re-registration
• readability
• reformulate

ghost verb ( END COMMUNICATION )

• She was furious about being ghosted by Dan.
• If you want to finish with a boyfriend , tell him, don't just ghost.
• He ghosted his girlfriend and then she became his boss .
• affiliation order
• break something up
• break up with someone
• child support
• give someone the elbow idiom
• give someone the heave-ho idiom
• give someone the push idiom
• go off with someone
• run out on someone/something

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

ghost verb ( MOVE )

• Sarah suddenly ghosted out from behind the shed .
• Three youths ghosted out from a narrow alleyway a short distance ahead of her.
• Several black shapes were ghosting swiftly over the grass .
• ballistically
• make for somewhere/something
• make towards something/someone

ghost | American Dictionary

Translations of ghost.

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• ghost (SPIRIT)
• ghost (MEMORY)
• ghost (WRITE)
• ghost (END COMMUNICATION)
• ghost (MOVE)
• American    Noun
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Definition of ghost

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of ghost  (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

intransitive verb

• bogie
• familiar spirit
• hant [ dialect ]
• haunt [ chiefly dialect ]
• materialization
• fantasm
• poltergeist
• spectre

Examples of ghost in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ghost.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Noun and Verb

Middle English gost, gast , from Old English gāst ; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing ghost

• ghost pepper
• ghost kitchen
• ghost / shadow of one's former self
• give up the ghost
• ghost story
• ghost of a chance
• ghost chili

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Dictionary Entries Near ghost

Cite this entry.

“Ghost.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghost. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of ghost, medical definition, medical definition of ghost, more from merriam-webster on ghost.

Nglish: Translation of ghost for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of ghost for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ghost

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the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons.

a mere shadow or semblance; a trace: He's a ghost of his former self.

a remote possibility: He hasn't a ghost of a chance.

( sometimes initial capital letter ) a spiritual being.

the principle of life; soul ; spirit .

Informal . ghostwriter .

a secondary image, especially one appearing on a television screen as a white shadow, caused by poor or double reception or by a defect in the receiver.

Also called ghost im·age [ gohst -im-ij] /ˈgoʊst ˌɪm ɪdʒ/ . Photography . a faint secondary or out-of-focus image in a photographic print or negative resulting from reflections within the camera lens.

an oral word game in which each player in rotation adds a letter to those supplied by preceding players, the object being to avoid ending a word.

Optics . a series of false spectral lines produced by a diffraction grating with unevenly spaced lines.

Metalworking . a streak appearing on a freshly machined piece of steel containing impurities.

a red blood cell having no hemoglobin.

a fictitious employee, business, etc., fabricated especially for the purpose of manipulating funds or avoiding taxes: Investigation showed a payroll full of ghosts.

to ghostwrite (a book, speech, etc.).

Engraving . to lighten the background of (a photograph) before engraving.

to suddenly end all contact with (a person) without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship: The guy I’ve been dating ghosted me.

to leave (a social event or gathering) suddenly without saying goodbye: My friend ghosted my birthday party.

Digital Technology . to remove (comments, threads, or other digital content) from a website or online forum without informing the poster, keeping them hidden from the public but still visible to the poster.

to ghostwrite.

to go about or move like a ghost.

(of a sailing vessel) to move when there is no perceptible wind.

to pay people for work not performed, especially as a way of manipulating funds.

to suddenly end all contact with a person without explanation, especially in a romantic relationship: They dated for a month and then she ghosted.

to leave a social event or gathering suddenly without saying goodbye: I'm getting tired so I think I might just ghost.

Digital Technology . to remove comments, threads, or other digital content from a website or online forum without informing the poster, keeping them hidden from the public but still visible to the poster.

fabricated for purposes of deception or fraud: We were making contributions to a ghost company.

Idioms about ghost

give up the ghost ,

to cease to function or exist.

Origin of ghost

Synonym study for ghost, other words for ghost, other words from ghost.

• ghost·i·ly, adverb
• ghost·like, adjective
• de·ghost, verb (used with object)
• un·ghost·like, adjective

Words Nearby ghost

• Ghiordes knot
• Ghirlandaio
• ghost dance
• ghost fishing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ghost in a sentence

The expansion of ghost kitchens was well underway before the pandemic.

The spread of third-party delivery apps and ghost kitchens means that many customers largely interact with restaurants through apps, not the restaurants directly.

New “ ghost kitchens,” or delivery-only restaurants capitalizing on the rise of Grubhub and UberEats, popped up, many specializing in wings.

Last year police in New York state arrested an Army drone operator and alleged Boogaloo Boi on charges that he owned an illegal ghost gun.

Group Nine has been thinking about expanding further in this direction by leveraging the ghost kitchen it launched through Thrillist back in December.

The well, ghost or no ghost , is certainly a piece of history with a bold presence.

Now, she says, her coworkers are actively pranking each other and blaming it on the ghost .

First, the ghost of his departed partner, Jacob Marley, comes calling, his face emerging from the doorknob.

As Monday turned to Tuesday morning, five hostages had escaped and the Central Business District had turned into a ghost town.

The ghost writer in question is assumed to be one Siobhan Curham—an established author of both YA and adult fiction.

T least, thet's all I think 't wuz; though thar wuz those thet said 't wuz Claiborne's ghost .

Meanwhile Fleurette had her nourishing food, and grew more like the ghost of a lily every day.

Our poor planet will be but a silent ghost whirling on its dark path in the starlight.

For a moment there was no consciousness in their gaze; then a whimsical ghost of a smile crept about his mouth.

Now it will be as well here to inquire what good has ever resulted from this belief in what is commonly understood to be a ghost ?

British Dictionary definitions for ghost

/ ( ɡəʊst ) /

the disembodied spirit of a dead person, supposed to haunt the living as a pale or shadowy vision; phantom : Related adjective: spectral

a haunting memory : the ghost of his former life rose up before him

a faint trace or possibility of something; glimmer : a ghost of a smile

the spirit; soul (archaic, except in the phrase the Holy Ghost )

a faint secondary image produced by an optical system

a similar image on a television screen, formed by reflection of the transmitting waves or by a defect in the receiver

See ghost word

Also called: ghost edition an entry recorded in a bibliography of which no actual proof exists

Another name for ghostwriter : See ghostwrite

(modifier) falsely recorded as doing a particular job or fulfilling a particular function in order that some benefit, esp money, may be obtained : a ghost worker

• give up the ghost

(of a machine) to stop working

See ghostwrite

(tr) to haunt

(intr) to move effortlessly and smoothly, esp unnoticed : he ghosted into the penalty area

Derived forms of ghost

• ghostlike , adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with ghost

In addition to the idiom beginning with ghost

• Chinaman's (ghost of a) chance

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Definition of 'ghost'

Video: pronunciation of ghost

ghost in British English

Ghost in american english, examples of 'ghost' in a sentence ghost, more idioms containing ghost, cobuild collocations ghost, trends of ghost.

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• Ghiordes knot
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• 1.1 Alternative forms
• 1.2 Etymology
• 1.3 Pronunciation
• 1.4.1 Derived terms
• 1.4.2 Descendants
• 1.4.3 Translations
• 1.4.4 See also
• 1.5.1 Derived terms
• 1.5.2 Translations
• 1.6 References
• 1.7 Anagrams

English [ edit ]

Alternative forms [ edit ].

• ghoast , gost ( both obsolete )

Etymology [ edit ]

From Middle English gost , from Old English gāst , which was the word for "spirit" as well as "ghost" (the original sense survives in Modern English Holy Ghost from Old English Hāliġ Gāst ). Further from Proto-West Germanic *gaist , from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz , from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos , derived from *ǵʰéysd- ( “ anger, agitation ” ) .

Cognate with Scots ghaist ( “ ghost ” ) , Saterland Frisian Gäist ( “ spirit ” ) , West Frisian geast ( “ spirit ” ) , Dutch geest ( “ spirit, mind, ghost ” ) , German Geist ( “ spirit, mind, intellect ” ) , Swedish gast ( “ ghost ” ) . Wider cognates include Sanskrit हेड ( héḍa , “ anger, hatred ” ) , Persian زشت ‎ ( zešt , “ ugly, hateful, disgusting ” ) .

The 'h' in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton 's Royal Book , printed in 1484, in a reference to the 'Holy Ghoost', likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde , as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled 'gheest' at the time. [1]

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• ( UK ) IPA ( key ) : /ɡəʊst/
• ( General Australian ) IPA ( key ) : /ɡɐʉst/
• ( US ) IPA ( key ) : /ɡoʊst/
• Rhymes: -əʊst

Noun [ edit ]

ghost ( countable and uncountable , plural ghosts )

• 1590 , Edmund Spenser , “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene.   [ … ] , London: [ … ] [ John Wolfe ] for William Ponsonbie , →OCLC , stanza 31: hen gins her grieued ghost thus to lament and mourne.
• 2013 , Kenneth Palmer, Just Thoughts: Looking at Man's Whole Self , page 20 : Enlightening the eyes and a taste for hope, emotions are felt from an inward ghost .
• 2014 , Neville Moray, Science, Cells and Souls: An Introduction to Human Nature : If I thought that “I” referred to my inner ghost , I wouldn't be worried because a bullet can't hurt a ghost , and equally there would be no point in your shooting.
• 2017 , Anastasia Burton, You and I, in a Thousand Moons : It also required four years of finding your inner ghost and becoming one with it. The inner ghost is within every person who is still alive.
• 1668 , John Dryden , Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, M. DC. LXVI.   [ … ] , London: [ … ] Henry Herringman ,   [ … ] , →OCLC , (please specify the stanza number) : The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose.
• 1798 , Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere : I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost
• 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard , She: A History of Adventure , London: Longmans, Green, and Co. , published 1887 , →OCLC : For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me that he must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave-like garment, and been deceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into a belief that she was a white ghost gliding towards him.
• 1992 , Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian , volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press , →ISBN , page vii: Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
• 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe ], “ The Raven ”, in The American Review ‎ [1] , volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam ,   [ … ] , →OCLC : And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
• 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist ‎ [2] , volume 101 , number 3, archived from the original on 17 July 2013 , pages 206–7 : Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
• 2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club ‎ [3] : [ … ] She barely answers his questions. She’s a ghost of herself. And then Hot Pie gives us the key to Arya’s whole thing this season so far: She didn’t know that Jon had defeated the Boltons.
• A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.
• 2007 , Albert Abramson, The History of Television, 1942 to 2000 , page 60 : There was less flicker, jitter was nonexistent, and the screen pattern had been rendered far more viewworthy, with ghosts being virtually suppressed.
• A ghostwriter .
• 2004 , Joint Learning Initiative, Global Equity Initiative, Human Resources for Health: Overcoming the Crisis , page 76 : Some health systems are plagued by " ghost " and "absent" workers. Ghost workers are nonexistent, listed in the payroll, and paid, a clear sign of corruption.
• 2008 , The Asia-Pacific Human Development Report , page 63 : 1,500 secondary schools in Jiangxi found 125 cases of illegally collected Ghosts and Absentees fees worth $2 million.
• 2023 , Barony of Ponte Alto, Society for Creative Anachronism, Ponte Alto Pennsic Encampment 2023 - Barony Registration : Before filling out this form, please visit the Pennsic Pre-Registration Page to create your account and enter your campers and ghosts [ nonexistent campers one pays for to legitimately increase the size of one's allotted camping space ].
• A dead person whose identity is stolen by another. See ghosting .
• 2004 , Paul Mutton, IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools , page 31 : This will let you open a query with NickServ again so you can remove your “ ghost ” from the server: [ … ]
• ( computing ) An image of a file or hard disk . Synonym: backup
• ( theater ) An understudy .
• ( espionage ) A covert (and deniable ) agent. Synonyms: spook , spy
• 1992 , Maurice J. Whitford, Getting Rid of Graffiti , page 45 : Regardless of GRM used, graffiti ghosts persist. Protect cladding with surface coating or replace with graffiti resistant paint or laminate.
• 2012 , Keith Burgun, Game Design Theory: A New Philosophy for Understanding Games : This is also the case for some racing games ( Super Mario Kart is a good example) that allow you to compete against your ghosts , which are precise recordings of your performance.
• Someone whose identity cannot be established because there are no records of him/her.
• 1966 , Kàzmèr L. Nagy, State Vector Spaces with Indefinite Metric in Quantum Field Theory , page 14 : The proof is well known, and independent of the metric, but to make certain we prove it here also for the case when the state vector system of an operator contains multipole [ sic ] ghosts .
• 2019 , Radin Dardashti, Richard Dawid, Karim Thébault, Why Trust a Theory? , page 180 : Soon after, the proof of the No-Ghost Theorem , establishing that the DRM has no ghosts if d ≤ 26, was achieved independently by Brower (1972) and by Goddard and Thorn (1972).
• ( attributive , linguistics , computing ) A formerly nonexistent character that was at some point mistakenly encoded into a character set standard , which might have since become used opportunistically for some genuine purpose. 彁 is a ghost character from the Japanese JIS X 0208 character set.
• 2018 October 2, Julie Thompson-Adolf, Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden , Cool Springs Press, →ISBN , page 68 : Spicy or mild, lovely bells or scary ghosts , peppers belong in your garden. Not only are they delicious, they add a gorgeous pop of color to vegetable gardens. When starting pepper seeds, consider using a heat mat.
• 2022 July 5, Alice Zaslavsky, In Praise of Veg: The Ultimate Cookbook for Vegetable Lovers , Appetite by Random House, →ISBN : Fresh chili has a glossy smooth skin like a bell pepper...unless you're in scorching territory, with the likes of Ghosts or Reapers (their name should give the game away), where the skin looks [wrinkled].
• ( uncountable ) A game in which players take turns to add a letter to a possible word, trying not to complete a word.
• ( attributive , in names of species ) White or pale . ghost slug ghostflower
• ( attributive , in names of species ) Transparent or translucent . ghost ant ghost catfish
• ( attributive ) Abandoned . ghost town ghost ship
• ( attributive ) Remnant; the remains of a(n). ghost cell ghost crater ghost image
• ( attributive ) Perceived or listed but not real . ghost cellphone vibration ghost pain ghost island ghost voter
• ( attributive ) Of cryptid , supernatural or extraterrestrial nature. ghost rocket ghost deer
• ( attributive ) Substitute . ghost writer ghost singer

Derived terms [ edit ]

• black ghost knifefish
• errand ghost
• errand-ghost
• Faddeev-Popov ghost
• gauge ghost
• ghost at the feast
• ghost brand
• ghost bullet
• ghost catshark
• ghost character
• ghost chili
• ghost chili pepper
• ghost chilli
• ghost condensate
• ghost corridor
• Ghost Dance
• ghost detainee
• ghost driver
• ghost-faced bat
• Ghost Festival
• ghost field
• ghost flathead
• ghost fleet
• ghost flight
• ghost forest
• ghost from one's past
• ghost fungus
• ghost hotel
• ghosthunter
• ghosthunting
• ghost image
• ghost imaging
• ghost insect
• ghost in the graveyard
• ghost in the machine
• ghost island
• ghost kanji
• ghost kitchen
• ghost knifefish
• ghost language
• ghost light
• ghost marriage
• ghost moose
• ghost nipper
• ghost nudibranch
• ghost orchid
• ghost pepper
• ghost piece
• ghost pipefish ( Solenostomus )
• ghost plant
• ghost population
• ghost prisoner
• ghost restaurant
• ghost-riding
• ghost runner
• ghost-scraper
• ghost shark
• ghost shrimp
• ghost sickness
• ghost skate
• ghost station
• ghost story
• ghost swift
• ghost-townish
• ghost train
• ghost voting
• ghost world
• ghost-write
• ghost write
• ghostwriter
• give up the ghost
• great Caesar's ghost
• hungry ghost
• no-ghost theorem
• Pepper's ghost
• the ghost walks
• white as a ghost
• yield the ghost
• yield up the ghost

See also [ edit ]

• channelling
• doppelganger
• hallucination
• poltergeist
• things that go bump in the night
• will-o'-the-wisp

Verb [ edit ]

ghost ( third-person singular simple present ghosts , present participle ghosting , simple past and past participle ghosted )

• c. 1606–1607 , William Shakespeare , “ The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies   [ … ] ( First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed [ ward ] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [Act II, scene vi], line 1221 : since Julius Caesar, / Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted
• ( obsolete ) To die ; to expire .
• 1938 , Norman Lindsay , Age of Consent , 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith , published 1962 , →OCLC , page 32 : It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light, ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.
• 1976 September, Saul Bellow , Humboldt’s Gift , New York, N.Y.: Avon Books , →ISBN , page 41 : Well, you wrote a few books, you wrote a famous play, and even that was half ghosted .
• 2014 March 9, Elizabeth Day, “Is the LRB the best magazine in the world?”, in The Observer ‎ [4] : The current issue carries an extraordinary 26,000-word piece by Andrew O'Hagan on his failed attempt to ghost the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's memoir, which was trending on Twitter before copies even hit the news-stands.
• 2016 , Nathanael Johnson, Unseen City , →ISBN , page 192 : They move without any visible sign of movement, like a wakeless ship ghosting over the water.
• ( computing ) To copy a file or hard drive image.
• 1991 , Amiga User Interface Style Guide , page 76 : Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should be ghosted . Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.
• 2001 , Luke, “to leave (vb.): Hurg [OT]”, in alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island ( Usenet ): I'm so untechnical that I once ghosted a registered IRC nick and then tried to identify myself to NickServ with the valid password before actually changing my nick to the aforementioned moniker.
• 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport ‎ [5] : Arsenal came into the match under severe pressure and nerves were palpable early on as Pratley was brilliantly denied by Szczesny after ghosting in front of Kieran Gibbs
• 2011 , Mark Harnden, In the Dark Backyard , →ISBN , page 59 : At the flank of the main stage, I took root for an hour, until a female form ghosted in front of me that I recognised from university two years before.
• 2012 , Ian Tregillis, Bitter Seeds , →ISBN : He ghosted through the door. It clanged a few seconds later as his pursuer pounded on it.
• 2020 , Jamie Bennett, Victoria Knight, Prisoners on Prison Films , page 26 : His power base, however, is undermined by him being constantly, “ ghosted ”, or moved from prison to prison.
• 2000 , Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, Pitch Black (film) : My recommendation: Do me. Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass. Ghost me, Riddick. Would if I were you. Though I notice he tried to ghost my ass. When he shot up that stranger instead.
• 2004 , Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, The Chronicles of Riddick (film) : He just ghosted two guys, and I never even saw him. Plan was to clean the bank, ghost the mercs, break wide through the tunnel.
• 2013 , Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, Riddick (film) : This may come as a shock to you, Johns, but I didn't ghost your son. He seemed set on killin' himself. Diaz was gonna take the nodes for himself and ghost me. He was gonna leave you out here alone.
• 2017 September 28, Josh Corbin, 37:03 from the start, in Start Up , season 2, episode 6, spoken by Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi): RONALD:”They tried to ghost your girl Isabel right here”. WES CHANDLER(played by Ron Perlman ):”Tried to ‘ ghost ’ her?” RONALD:”Merk. 86. Put her down in the dirt. You feel me?”
• 2015 October 15, “Why is it so hard to go from chatting on Tinder to meeting up in real life?”, in The Guardian ‎ [6] : I’ve recently been trying out Tinder, and while I match with people and even chat with them everything seems to be going well, but whenever I bring up meeting IRL, they are quick to ghost me.
• 2016 March 21, Allison P. Davies, “What I Learned Tindering My Way Across Europe”, in Travel + Leisure ‎ [7] , archived from the original on 2018-01-06 : By 6 p.m., I had a list of restaurants to try from Hamish, a chef who couldn’t meet, a follow-up from Adam (“I’ve never seen a room at the Ace....”), and an offer from Agoraphobic Paul to come over and “have a joint and a cuddle.” I’d confirmed a walking tour of Greenwich from Max, who ghosted .
• 2017 September 26, Judith Duportail, “I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets”, in The Guardian ‎ [8] : Tinder knows me so well. It knows the real, inglorious version of me who copy-pasted the same joke to match 567, 568, and 569; who exchanged compulsively with 16 different people simultaneously one New Year’s Day, and then ghosted 16 of them.
• 2018 , Ling Ma , chapter 17, in Severance , →ISBN : He had texted, called, and emailed a bunch since then. I hadn't meant to ghost , but it was just easier not to deal with it.
• 1955 , Saturday Review (volume 38, part 2, page 27) Here's how it went: Larry Parks as elderly Al Jolson was watching Larry Parks playing young Al Jolson in the first movie — in other words, Parks ghosting for Parks. At the same time, Jolson himself was ghosting the voices for both of them.
• 1999 , The Golden Age of Musicals , page 50 : One of the few performers to triumph over ghosting was Ava Gardner in Freed's Show Boat (1951). Not only does she lip-synch with breathtaking accuracy, her performance gives the cotton-candy production its only underpinning of realism.

References [ edit ]

• ^ Crystal, David (2012) Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling , London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN

Anagrams [ edit ]

• Goths , gosht , goths

Old English gast "breath; good or bad spirit, angel, demon; person, man, human being," in Biblical use "soul, spirit, life," from Proto-West Germanic *gaistaz (source also of Old Saxon gest , Old Frisian jest , Middle Dutch gheest , Dutch geest , German Geist "spirit, ghost"). This is conjectured to be from a PIE root *gheis- , used in forming words involving the notions of excitement, amazement, or fear (source also of Sanskrit hedah "wrath;" Avestan zaesha- "horrible, frightful;" Gothic usgaisjan , Old English gæstan "to frighten").

Ghost is the English representative of the usual West Germanic word for "supernatural being." In Christian writing in Old English it is used to render Latin spiritus (see spirit (n.)), a sense preserved in Holy Ghost . Sense of "disembodied spirit of a dead person," especially imagined as wandering among the living or haunting them, is attested from late 14c. and returns the word toward its likely prehistoric sense.

Most Indo-European words for "soul, spirit" also double with reference to supernatural spirits. Many have a base sense of "appearance" (such as Greek phantasma ; French spectre ; Polish widmo , from Old Church Slavonic videti "to see;" Old English scin , Old High German giskin , originally "appearance, apparition," related to Old English scinan , Old High German skinan "to shine"). Other concepts are in French revenant , literally "returning" (from the other world), Old Norse aptr-ganga , literally "back-comer." Breton bugelnoz is literally "night-child." Latin manes probably is a euphemism.

The gh- spelling appeared early 15c. in Caxton, influenced by Flemish and Middle Dutch gheest , but was rare in English before mid-16c. Sense of "slight suggestion, mere shadow or semblance" (in ghost image , ghost of a chance , etc.) is first recorded 1610s; sense of "one who secretly does work for another" is from 1884. Ghost town is from 1908. Ghost story is by 1811. Ghost-word "apparent word or false form in a manuscript due to a blunder" is from 1886 (Skeat). Ghost in the machine was British philosopher Gilbert Ryle's term (1949) for "the mind viewed as separate from the body." The American Indian ghost dance is from 1890. To give up the ghost "die" was in Old English.

"to ghost-write," 1922, back-formation from ghost-writing (1919) "article written by one man upon material supplied in interview or otherwise by a second and which appears in print over the signature of such second party" ["The Ghost Writer and His Story" [Graves Glenwood Clark, in "The Editor," Feb. 25, 1920], from ghost (n.) "one who secretly does work for another (1884). Related: Ghost-written . Ghost-writing also was used from c. 1902 for secret writing using lemon juice, etc. A late 19c. term for "one whose work is credited to another" was gooseberry-picker .

Entries linking to ghost

in Roman religion, "spirits of the dead considered as tutelary divinities of their families," from Latin manes "departed spirit, ghost, shade of the dead, deified spirits of the underworld," usually said to be related to Latin manus "good," thus properly "the good gods," a euphemistic word. De Vaan cites cognates Old Irish maith , Welsh mad , Breton mat "good." The ultimate etymology is uncertain (compare mature ).

Three times a year a pit called the mundus was officially opened in the comitium of the Roman Forum, to permit the manes to come forth. The manes were also honored at certain festivals, as the Parentalia and Feralia; oblations were made to them, and the flame maintained on the altar of the household was a homage to them. [In this sense often written with a capital.] [Century Dictionary]

mid-13c., "life, the animating or vital principle in man and animals," from Anglo-French spirit , Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c., Modern French esprit ) and directly from Latin spiritus "a breathing (of respiration, also of the wind), breath;" also "breath of a god," hence "inspiration; breath of life," hence life itself.

The Latin word also could mean "disposition, character; high spirit, vigor, courage; pride, arrogance." It is a derivative of spirare "to breathe," and formerly was said to be perhaps from a PIE *(s)peis- "to blow" (source also of Old Church Slavonic pisto "to play on the flute"). But de Vaan says the Latin verb is "Possibly an onomatopoeic formation imitating the sound of breathing. There are no direct cognates." Compare conspire , expire , inspire .

In English it is attested from late 14c. as "divine substance, divine mind, God;" also "Christ" or His divine nature; also "the Holy Ghost; divine power." Also by late 14c. as "the soul as the seat of morality in man," and "extension of divine power to man; inspiration, a charismatic state; charismatic power," especially in reference to prophecy.

The meaning "supernatural immaterial creature; angel, demon; an apparition, invisible corporeal being of an airy nature" is attested from mid-14c. The word is attested by late 14c. as "ghost, disembodied soul of a person" (compare ghost (n.)). Spirit-rapping , colloquial for spiritualism in the supernatural sense, is from 1852. Spirit-world "world of disembodied spirits" is by 1829.

It is attested from late 14c. as "essential nature, essential quality." The non-theological sense of "essential principle of something" (as in Spirit of St. Louis ) is attested from 1680s and was common after 1800. The Spirit of '76 in reference to the qualities that sparked and sustained the American Revolution of 1776 is attested by 1797 in William Cobbett's "Porcupine's Gazette and Daily Advertiser."

It also is attested from mid-14c. in English as "character, disposition; way of thinking and feeling, state of mind; source of a human desire;" in Middle English freedom of spirit meant "freedom of choice." It is attested from 1580s in the metaphoric sense of "animation, vitality," and by c. 1600 as "frame of mind with which something is done," also "mettle, vigor of mind, courage."

From late 14c. in alchemy as "volatile substance; distillate" (and from c. 1500 as "substance capable of uniting the fixed and the volatile elements of the philosopher's stone"). Hence spirits "volatile substance;" the sense of which narrowed to "strong alcoholic liquor" by 1670s. This also is the sense in spirit level (1768), so called for the liquid in the clear tube.

According to Barnhart and OED, the earliest use of the word in English mainly is from passages in the Vulgate, where the Latin word translates Greek pneuma and Hebrew ruah . A distinction between soul and spirit (as "seat of emotions") became current in Christian terminology (such as Greek psykhē and pneuma , Latin anima and spiritus ) but "is without significance for earlier periods" [Buck]. Latin spiritus , usually in classical Latin "breath," replaced animus in the sense "spirit" in the imperial period and appears in Christian writings as the usual equivalent of Greek pneuma .

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