spook

See also: Spook

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: spo͞ok, IPA^(key): /spuːk/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːk

Noun

spook (plural spooks)

1. (informal) A ghost or phantom.

   The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.

   • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

     "I'll say what I think, no more and no less, and I won't be scared by you or your spooks into altering my opinions."

2. A hobgoblin.
3. (informal) A scare or fright.

   The big spider gave me a spook.

4. (espionage, slang) A spy.
   • 2009, "Spies like them", BBC News Magazine (online), 24 July 2009:

     From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?

   • 2012, The Economist, Oct 13th 2012, Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold

     The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks.

5. (slang, dated, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person.
6. (philosophy) A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.

   He who is infatuated with Man leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook. — Max Stirner

7. (US, slang, medicine) A psychiatrist.
   • 1975, Robert O. Pasnau, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (page 124)

     Commonly, the surgeons view nonsurgeons with disdain. The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called.

8. (blackjack, slang) A player who engages in hole carding by attempting to glimpse the dealer's hole card when the dealer checks under an ace or a 10 to see if a blackjack is present.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ghost

Translations

spirit returning to haunt a place

• Dutch: spook (nl) n, geest (nl)
• Finnish: haamu (fi), aave (fi), kummitus (fi)
• French: revenant (fr) m
• German: Gespenst (de) n
• Indonesian: hantu (id)

• Maori: taipō, mangumangu taipō, taipō
• Plautdietsch: Spuak m
• Romanian: stafie (ro) f, fantomă (ro) f
• Swedish: spöke (sv) n, osalig ande

ghost or phantom

• Dutch: spook (nl) n, schijnsel (nl) n
• Finnish: haamu (fi), aave (fi), kummitus (fi)
• French: fantôme (fr) m
• Georgian: მოჩვენება (močveneba), მოლანდება (molandeba)
• Maori: mangumangu taipō, taipō

• Plautdietsch: Spuak m
• Romanian: fantomă (ro) f
• Russian: при́зрак (ru) m (prízrak)
• Swedish: spöke (sv) n

hobgoblin

• Dutch: kabouter (nl) c
• Finnish: peikko (fi)

• Maori: taipō
• Romanian: spiriduș (ro) m

spy

• Dutch: spion (nl) c, verspieder (nl) c
• Finnish: vakooja (fi)
• French: barbouze (fr) m, espion (fr)
• Georgian: შპიონი (šṗioni), ჯაშუში (ǯašuši), მსტოვარი (msṭovari)

• Occitan: espia m, espion m
• Romanian: spion (ro) m
• Russian: шпио́н (ru) m (špión)

pejorative: black person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑鬼 (zh) (hēiguǐ)

• Dutch: neger (nl) c

• French: bamboula (fr) m
• Russian: ни́ггер (ru) m (nígger)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} Gespenst (de), ^{(please verify)} Phantom (de), ^{(please verify)} Geist (de), ^{(please verify)} Spuk (de)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} spettro (it), ^{(please verify)} fantasma (it)

Verb

spook (third-person singular simple present spooks, present participle spooking, simple past and past participle spooked)

1. (transitive) To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling).

   The hunters were spooked when the black cat crossed their path. The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.

2. (intransitive) To become frightened (by something startling).

   The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs.

3. (transitive) To haunt.

Translations

to scare or frighten

• Finnish: säikäyttää (fi) (causative), säikytellä (fi) (frequentative), pelästyttää (fi) (causative)
• Maori: whakamataku, whakaohorere
• Romanian: speria (ro)

• Russian: пуга́ть (ru) (pugátʹ), вспугивать (ru) (vspugivatʹ)
• Spanish: sobresaltar (es), asustar (es), espantar (es), aterrorizar (es)
• Swedish: skrämma (sv)

Derived terms

• spookhouse
• spookiness
• spookish
• spookmaster
• spook out
• spooky

 

See also

• Wikipedia article on ghosts

Anagrams

• Koops, SOKOP, Sopko

---

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch spook, from Middle Dutch spoke, spooc, from Proto-Germanic *spōk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spʊə̯k/

Noun

spook (plural spoke, diminutive spokie)

1. ghost, phantom

Descendants

• → Northern Ndebele: isipoko
• → Xhosa: isiporho
• → Zulu: isipoki

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spoːk/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spook
• Rhymes: -oːk

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch spoke, spooc, from spoke, spoocke, spoicke (“wizardry, witchcraft”), from Proto-Germanic *spōk. Further etymology unclear. Compare Middle Low German spôk; Low German spôk; Middle High German Spuch; modern High German Spuk.

Noun

Een spook zoals dat vaak in een kinderboek getekend wordt.
A ghost such as is often drawn in a children's book.

spook n (plural spoken, diminutive spookje n)

1. phantom, ghost

   Geloof je in spoken? ― Do you believe in ghosts?

2. horror, terror

   het spook van de oorlog ― the horror of war

3. an annoying and intolerable woman

Synonyms

• geest
• fantoom

Derived terms

• gootspook
• nachtspook
• spookambtenaar
• spookdier
• spookdorp
• spookhuis
• spookschip
• spookslot
• spookstad
• spooktrein
• spookuur
• spookverhaal
• spookwoord

Descendants

• Afrikaans: spook
  • → Northern Ndebele: isipoko
  • → Xhosa: isiporho
  • → Zulu: isipoki
• → English: spook
• → Papiamentu: spoki

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

spook

1. first-person singular present indicative of spoken
2. imperative of spoken

---

Middle English

Noun

spook

1. Alternative form of spoke