ghost

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English gost and gast, from Old English gāst. Cognate with Afrikaans gees, archaic Danish gejst, Dutch geest, Frisian geast, German Geist, Scots ghaist and Yiddish גײַסט (gayst).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /gəʊst/
• (US) IPA: /goʊst/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -əʊst

[edit] Noun

ghost (plural ghosts)

1. (obsolete) The spirit; the soul of man.

   Then gives her grieved ghost thus to lament. — Spenser

2. The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter.

   The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose. — Shakespeare.

   I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost. — Coleridge

3. Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image; a phantom; a glimmering.

   not a ghost of a chance

   the ghost of an idea

   Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. — Poe

4. A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.
5. An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.
6. A ghostwriter.
7. (paganism) A nature spirit, ancestor or house spirit (see brownie ) revered in Heathenry.

   Before all else, we speak to the land to the ghosts and spirits of this place known to many as pixies, fairies, brownies, or elfs. (Math Jones)

8. (Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.

[edit] Synonyms

• (soul): soul, spirit
• (spirit appearing after death): apparition, phantom, revenant, specter/spectre, spook, wraith.
• (faint shadowy semblance): glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, hint, inkling, spark, suggestion.
• (false image in an optical device):
• (false image on a television screen):
• (ghostwriter): ghostwriter
• See also Wikisaurus:ghost

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also

[edit] Translations

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[edit] Verb

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

1. (transitive) To haunt.
2. (transitive) To ghostwrite.
3. (intransitive) To ghostwrite.

[edit] Anagrams

• Goths