spook

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”); liken German Spuk (“ghost, apparition”), Middle Low German spok (“spook”), Swedish spok (“scarecrow”), Norwegian spjok (“ghost, specter”), Danish spøg (“joke”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

spook (plural spooks)

  1. A spirit returning to haunt a place.
    The visit to the old cemetery brought scary visions of spooks and ghosts.
  2. A ghost or an apparition.
    The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.
  3. A hobgoblin.
  4. (espionage) 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. A scare or fright.
    The big spider gave me a spook.
  6. (dated, pejorative) A black person.

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

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

  1. To scare or frighten.
  2. To startle or frighten an animal
    The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.

Translations[edit]

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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from the noun or verb spook

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

spook

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