ghost
Meanings
- A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
- A spirit; a human soul.
- Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image.
- A false image, for example in a photographic print or negative, or on a television screen or radar display, or in a telescope, caused by poor or double reception or reflection (from a lens or screen).
- A faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.
- Ellipsis of ghostwriter.
- A nonexistent person invented to obtain some (typically fraudulent) benefit.
- A dead person whose identity is stolen by another (see ghosting).
- An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
- A copy of a file or record.
- An understudy.
- A covert (and deniable) agent.
- In the form be ghost: not present or involved; absent, gone.
- Of a disembodied soul: to appear (somewhere or to someone) in the form of an apparition; to haunt.
- To imbue (something) with a ghost-like effect or hue.
- To continuously cause (someone or something) trouble; specifically, to continuously be in the thoughts of (someone) in a disturbing manner; to perturb, to trouble.
- To kill (someone).
- To gray out (a visual element) to indicate that it is unavailable.
- To forcibly disconnect (an IRC user) who is using one's reserved nickname.
- To stop communicating with (someone) on social media, through text messages, etc., without explanation, especially as a way of ending a relationship; hence, to end a relationship with (someone) by stopping all communication without explanation.
- To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison, usually without first informing the prisoner.
- Synonym of ghostwrite (“to write (a literary work or speech), or produce (an artistic work)), in the place of someone”); also, to carry out (an artistic performance) in the place of someone.
- To appear suddenly or move like a disembodied soul; specifically (often sports); also (transitive, dated) followed by the dummy subject it: to move easily and quietly without anyone noticing; to slip.
- Followed by for: synonym of ghostwrite (“to write a literary work or speech, or produce an artistic work, in the place of someone”); also, to carry out an artistic performance in the place of someone.
- Of a sailing vessel: to sail seemingly with very little or no wind.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst, gǣst (“breath, spirit, soul, ghost”) (compare modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). 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”. It was likely influenced by Middle Dutch gheest, a common variant of geest. Both Caxton and his assistant Wynkyn de Worde had connections to the Low Countries. Doublet of geist. The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. The verb gained prominence in the 2010s. cognates * Danish gast (“ghost”), gejst (“enthusiasm”) * Dutch geest (“ghost, spirit”) * German Geist (“ghost, spirit”) * Luxembourgish Geescht (“ghost, spirit, spectre, phantom”) * Saterland Frisian Gäist, Jeest (“ghost, spirit”) * Scots gaist, ghaist (“ghost”) * Swedish gast (“ghost”) * Vilamovian gȧjst (“ghost, spirit”) * West Frisian geast (“ghost, spirit”) * Yiddish גײַסט (gayst, “ghost, spirit”) * Yola gaast (“ghost”)