Link Centre Dictionary

ghost

UK/ɡəʊst/ US/ɡoʊst/ common literary slang uk
noun (4) verb (3)

noun

1.

a mental representation of some haunting experience

  • “he looked like he had seen a ghost”
  • “it aroused specters from his past”
Synonyms
2.

a writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else

Synonyms
3.
4.

a suggestion of some quality

  • “there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone”
  • “he detected a ghost of a smile on her face”
Synonyms

verb

1.

move like a ghost

  • “The masked men ghosted across the moonlit yard”
2.

haunt like a ghost; pursue

  • “Fear of illness haunts her”
Synonyms
3.

write for someone else

  • “How many books have you ghostwritten so far?”
Synonyms

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English gost, from Old English gāst, gǣst (“breath, spirit, soul, ghost”) (compare modern English Holy Ghost), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). The h in the spelling appears in the Prologue to William Caxton’s Royal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the “Holy Ghoost”. It was likely influenced by Middle Dutch gheest, a common variant of geest. Both Caxton and his assistant Wynkyn de Worde had connections to the Low Countries. Doublet of geist. The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. The verb gained prominence in the 2010s. cognates * Danish gast (“ghost”), gejst (“enthusiasm”) * Dutch geest (“ghost, spirit”) * German Geist (“ghost, spirit”) * Luxembourgish Geescht (“ghost, spirit, spectre, phantom”) * Saterland Frisian Gäist, Jeest (“ghost, spirit”) * Scots gaist, ghaist (“ghost”) * Swedish gast (“ghost”) * Vilamovian gȧjst (“ghost, spirit”) * West Frisian geast (“ghost, spirit”) * Yiddish גײַסט (gayst, “ghost, spirit”) * Yola gaast (“ghost”)

Phrases

  • black ghost knifefish
  • digital ghost
  • errand ghost
  • Faddeev-Popov ghost
  • gauge ghost
  • ghost apple
  • ghost at the feast
  • ghost band

Related words

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Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.