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 .
haunt (third-person singular simple present haunts , present participle haunting , simple past and past participle haunted )
( transitive ) To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare , “The Merry Wiues of Windsor ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [ … ] (First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed[ ward] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act III, scene iv] , page 52 , column 1:You wrong me Sir,thus ſtill to haunt my houſe.
1600 , [Torquato Tasso ], “(please specify |book=1 to 20) ”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e. , Edward Fairfax ], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. [ … ] , London: [ … ] Ar[ nold] Hatfield, for I[ saac] Iaggard and M[ atthew] Lownes, →OCLC :Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
1713 , Jonathan Swift , Imitation of Horace , Book I. Ep. VII:those cares that haunt the court and town
( transitive ) To make uneasy , restless .
The memory of his past failures haunted him.
( transitive ) To stalk ; to follow .
The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
2014 September 23, Elle King , Dave Bassett , “Ex's & Oh's ”, in Love Stuff [1] , performed by Elle King:Ex's and the oh-oh-oh's, they haunt me / Like ghosts, they want me / To make 'em a-a-all / They won't let go / Ex's and oh's
( intransitive , now rare ) To live habitually; to stay, to remain .
( transitive , UK dialectal , Northern England , Scotland ) To accustom ; habituate ; make accustomed to.
c. 1382–1395 , John Wycliffe [et al. ], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden , The Holy Bible, [ … ] , volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press , published 1850 , →OCLC , I. Timothy 4:7, columns 1, 2 :[ …] haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee ]. [ …] haunt thyself to piety.
( transitive , UK dialectal , Northern England , Scotland ) To practise ; to devote oneself to.
a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham , edited by Margaret Ascham , The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, [ … ] , London: [ … ] John Daye , [ … ] , published 1570 , →OCLC :Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
( intransitive ) To persist in staying or visiting.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [ … ] (First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed[ ward] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act I, scene i] , page 311 , column 1:I haue charg’d thee not to haunt about my doores: [ …]
to inhabit, or visit frequently
Bulgarian: посещавам (bg) ( poseštavam )
Catalan: rondar (ca) ( often used with "per" ) , perseguir (ca) , freqüentar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 出沒 / 出没 (zh) ( chūmò ) ( of creatures )
Czech: strašit (cs) , obcházet
Dutch: rondspoken (nl)
Esperanto: hanti
Finnish: kummitella (fi) ( of ghosts ) , olla (fi)
French: hanter (fr)
German: herumspuken in ( of ghosts ) , spuken in ( of ghosts ) , heimsuchen (de)
Greek: στοιχειώνω (el) ( stoicheióno )
Hungarian: kísért (hu)
Ingrian: pelehellä
Irish: gnáthaigh
Italian: infestare (it)
Japanese: 出没する (ja) ( shutsubotsu suru ) ( of creatures ) , 取り憑く (ja) ( toritsuku )
Latin: assum , frequentō , ambitō (la)
Maori: kuku , poke (mi)
Polish: straszyć (pl) , nawiedzać (pl) , nawiedzić (pl) , nawiedzać (pl) impf , nawiedzić (pl) pf
Portuguese: perseguir (pt) , assombrar (pt)
Romanian: bântui (ro)
Russian: посеща́ть (ru) impf ( poseščátʹ ) , навеща́ть (ru) impf ( naveščátʹ ) , появля́ться (ru) impf ( pojavljátʹsja )
Spanish: frecuentar (es)
Swedish: hemsöka (sv)
Ukrainian: ( часто ) відвідувати ( vidviduvaty ) , навідувати ( naviduvaty ) , вчащати ( včaščaty ) , бувати (uk) ( buvaty )
Welsh: mynychu (cy)
Translations to be checked
haunt (plural haunts )
A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout .
The shopping mall is a popular haunt of the local teenagers in this town.
I went back the town I used to live and visited all my old haunts .
1819 , Washington Irving , The Sketch Book , Rip Van Winkle :It is a great rock or cliff on the loneliest part of the mountains, and, … is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies which lie on the surface.
1868 , Louisa May Alcott , Kitty's Class Day :Both Jack and Fletcher had graduated the year before, but still took an interest in their old haunts , and patronized the fellows who were not yet through.
1984 October 8, Timothy Loughran, Natalie Angier, “Science: Striking It Rich in Wyoming ”, in Time :Wyoming has been a favorite haunt of paleontologists for the past century ever since westering pioneers reported that many vertebrate fossils were almost lying on the ground.
2018 , Michael Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol Newsom, The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha :It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
( dialect ) A ghost .
Synonym: haint
A lair or feeding place of animals.[ 1] [ 2]
1769 , Firishta , translated by Alexander Dow , Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi , volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.
place at which one is regularly found
Bulgarian: свърталище (bg) n ( svǎrtalište )
Dutch: trefpunt (nl)
Finnish: kantapaikka (fi) , vakiopaikka
French: point de rencontre m
German: Treffpunkt (de) m
Greek: στέκι (el) n ( stéki ) , λημέρι (el) n ( liméri ) , εντευκτήριο (el) n ( entefktírio )
Italian: ritrovo (it) m
Japanese: 行きつけ ( ikitsuke )
Korean: 단골 (ko) ( dan'gol )
Latin: lustrum n
Macedonian: свратилиште n ( svratilište )
Maori: ripoinga , kainga waewae
Persian: پاتوق (fa) ( pâtoq )
Portuguese: poiso (pt) m , poiso habitual m , pouso (pt) m , pouso habitual m
Swedish: mötesplats (sv) , träffpunkt (sv) , tillhåll (sv) n , gömsle (sv) n
Welsh: bro f
feeding place for animals
^ haunt in the Collins English Dictionary
^ Oxford English Dictionary , second edition (1989)