haunt

Meanings

1. To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
2. To make uneasy, restless.
3. To stalk; to follow.
4. To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
5. To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
6. To practise; to devote oneself to.
7. To persist in staying or visiting.

1. A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.
2. A ghost.
3. A lair or feeding place of animals.

Etymology

From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English hāmettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village”). Cognate with Old English hǣman (“to cohabit, lie with, marry”); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.