Link Centre Dictionary

haunt

UK/hɔːnt/ US/hɔnt/ fairly common uk
verb (3) noun (1)

verb

1.

follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to

  • “her ex-boyfriend stalked her”
  • “the ghost of her mother haunted her”
Synonyms
2.

haunt like a ghost; pursue

  • “Fear of illness haunts her”
Synonyms
3.

be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place

  • “She haunts the ballet”
Synonyms

noun

1.

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • come back to haunt
  • home haunt

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Word family

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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.