spook
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See also: Spook
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spook (plural spooks)
- (informal) A ghost or phantom.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ghost
- 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."
- A hobgoblin.
- (informal) A scare or fright.
- The big spider gave me a spook.
- (espionage, slang) A spy.
- 2009 July 24, “Spies like them”, in BBC News Magazine:
- 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 October 13, “Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold”, in The Economist[2]:
- The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks.
- (slang, dated, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person.
- 1976, Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver, spoken by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro):
- Some won't take spooks—hell, don't make no difference to me.
- (philosophy) A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.
- 1845, Max Stirner, Steven T. Byington, transl., Der Einzige und sein Eigentum; republished as The Ego and His Own, Dover, 2005:
- 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.
- (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.
- 1975, Robert O. Pasnau, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (page 124)
- (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.
Translations[edit]
spirit returning to haunt a place
ghost or phantom
hobgoblin
spy
pejorative: black person
- 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
Verb[edit]
spook (third-person singular simple present spooks, present participle spooking, simple past and past participle spooked)
- (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.
- (intransitive) To become frightened (by something startling).
- The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs.
- (transitive) To haunt.
Translations[edit]
to scare or frighten
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Derived terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Afrikaans[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Dutch spook, from Middle Dutch spoke, spooc, from Proto-Germanic *spōk.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
spook (plural spoke, diminutive spokie)
Descendants[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle Dutch spoke, spooc, from spoke, spoocke, spoicke (“wizardry, witchcraft”), from Proto-Germanic *spōk. Further etymology unclear. Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, Low German spôk, Middle High German Spuch, and German Spuk.
Noun[edit]
spook n (plural spoken, diminutive spookje n)
- phantom, ghost
- Geloof je in spoken? ― Do you believe in ghosts?
- spectre, horror, terror
- het spook van de oorlog ― the horror of war
- an imaginary horror, conceptual nightmare
- an annoying and intolerable woman
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- gootspook
- nachtspook
- spokenjager
- spookambtenaar
- spookdier
- spookdorp
- spookhuis
- spookschip
- spookslot
- spookstad
- spooktrein
- spookuur
- spookverhaal
- spookwoord
Descendants[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb[edit]
spook
Middle English[edit]
Noun[edit]
spook
- Alternative form of spoke
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Dutch
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/uːk
- Rhymes:English/uːk/1 syllable
- English lemmas
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- en:Espionage
- English slang
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- en:Philosophy
- American English
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- en:Fear
- en:Occupations
- en:People
- Afrikaans terms inherited from Dutch
- Afrikaans terms derived from Dutch
- Afrikaans terms inherited from Middle Dutch
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- Afrikaans terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Afrikaans terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Afrikaans terms with IPA pronunciation
- Afrikaans lemmas
- Afrikaans nouns
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- Rhymes:Dutch/oːk
- Rhymes:Dutch/oːk/1 syllable
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
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- Dutch lemmas
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