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ghost

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited fromMiddle Englishgost, fromOld Englishgāst (which was the word for “spirit” as well as “ghost”; the original sense survives in Modern EnglishHoly Ghost), fromProto-West Germanic*gaist, fromProto-Germanic*gaistaz, fromProto-Indo-European*ǵʰéysdos, derived from*ǵʰéysd-(“anger, agitation”).

The ⟨h⟩ in the spelling appears in the Prologue toWilliam Caxton'sRoyal Book, printed in 1484, in a reference to the ‘Holy Ghoost’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant,Wynkyn de Worde, as a result ofFlemish influence, where it was spelledgheest at the time.[1]Doublet ofgeist.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ghost (countable anduncountable,pluralghosts)

  1. (uncommon or dated) Thespirit; the humansoul.
    Synonyms:essence,soul,spirit;see alsoThesaurus:ghost
    • 1590,Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, inThe Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] forWilliam Ponsonbie,→OCLC, stanza 31:
      hen gins her grieuedghost thus to lament and mourne.
    • 2013, Kenneth Palmer,Just Thoughts: Looking at Man's Whole Self, page20:
      Enlightening the eyes and a taste for hope, emotions are felt from an inwardghost.
    • 2014, Neville Moray,Science, Cells and Souls: An Introduction to Human Nature:
      If I thought that “I” referred to my innerghost, I wouldn't be worried because a bullet can't hurt aghost, and equally there would be no point in your shooting.
    • 2017, Anastasia Burton,You and I, in a Thousand Moons:
      It also required four years of finding your innerghost and becoming one with it. The innerghost is within every person who is still alive.
  2. Thedisembodiedsoul; the soul orspirit of adeceasedperson; a spiritappearingafterdeath.
    Synonyms:apparition,bogey,haint,phantom,revenant,specter,spook,wraith
    Everyone believed that theghost of an old lady haunted the crypt.
    • 1667, John Dryden,Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […],→OCLC,(please specify the stanza number):
      The mightyghosts of our great Harries rose.
    • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere:
      I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessedghost
    • 1886 October –1887 January,H[enry] Rider Haggard,She: A History of Adventure, London:Longmans, Green, and Co., published1887,→OCLC:
      For a moment I was puzzled, but presently, of course, it struck me that he must have seen Ayesha, wrapped in her grave-like garment, and been deceived by the extraordinary undulating smoothness of her walk into a belief that she was a whiteghost gliding towards him.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster,The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.:Field Museum of Natural History,→ISBN, page vii:
      Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—aghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  3. Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image.
    Synonyms:glimmer,glimmering,glimpse,hint,inkling,phantom,spark,suggestion.
    • 1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym;Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, inThe American Review‎[1], volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London:Wiley & Putnam, […],→OCLC:
      And each separate dying ember wrought itsghost upon the floor.
    • 1984 December 29, Duncan Mitchel, “The Cult of Gay Machismo”, inGay Community News, volume12, number25, page14:
      Armistead Maupin's novels reflect more awareness of, and affection for, the texture of real life thanAs If After Sex. Maupin's characters may get into cartoonlike adventures, but they are real people. Torchia's characters do drearily familiar things, but they areghosts.
    • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, inAmerican Scientist‎[2], volume101, number 3, archived fromthe original on17 July 2013, pages206–7:
      Earlessghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
    • 2017 July 23, Brandon Nowalk, “The great game begins with a bang on Game Of Thrones (newbies)”, inThe Onion AV Club‎[3]:
      […] She barely answers his questions. She’s aghost of herself. And then Hot Pie gives us the key to Arya’s whole thing this season so far: She didn’t know that Jon had defeated the Boltons.
    not aghost of a chance
    theghost of an idea
  4. A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  5. An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.
    Synonym:echo
    • 2007, Albert Abramson,The History of Television, 1942 to 2000, page60:
      There was less flicker, jitter was nonexistent, and the screen pattern had been rendered far more viewworthy, withghosts being virtually suppressed.
  6. Aghostwriter.
    I've written both as aghost for experts and under my name.
  7. Anonexistent person invented to obtain some (typicallyfraudulent)benefit.
    • 2004, Joint Learning Initiative, Global Equity Initiative,Human Resources for Health: Overcoming the Crisis, page76:
      Some health systems are plagued by "ghost" and "absent" workers.Ghost workers are nonexistent, listed in the payroll, and paid, a clear sign of corruption.
    • 2008,The Asia-Pacific Human Development Report, page63:
      1,500 secondary schools in Jiangxi found 125 cases of illegally collectedGhosts and Absentees fees worth $2 million.
    • 2023, Barony of Ponte Alto, Society for Creative Anachronism,Ponte Alto Pennsic Encampment 2023 - Barony Registration:
      Before filling out this form, please visit the Pennsic Pre-Registration Page to create your account and enter your campers andghosts [nonexistent campers one pays for to legitimately increase the size of one's allotted camping space].
  8. Adead person whoseidentity is stolen by another. Seeghosting.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  9. (Internet) An unresponsive user onIRC, resulting from the user'sclient disconnecting without notifying theserver.
    • 2004, Paul Mutton,IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools, page31:
      This will let you open a query with NickServ again so you can remove your “ghost” from the server:[…]
  10. (computing) Acopy of afile orrecord.
    Synonym:backup
  11. (theater) Anunderstudy.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  12. (espionage) A covert (anddeniable) agent.
    Synonyms:spook,spy
  13. The faint image that remains after an attempt to removegraffiti.
    Synonym:shadow
    • 1992, Maurice J. Whitford,Getting Rid of Graffiti, page45:
      Regardless of GRM used, graffitighosts persist. Protect cladding with surface coating or replace with graffiti resistant paint or laminate.
  14. (video games) Anopponent in aracinggame that follows a previouslyrecordedroute, allowing players to compete against previous best times.
    • 2012, Keith Burgun,Game Design Theory: A New Philosophy for Understanding Games:
      This is also the case for some racing games (Super Mario Kart is a good example) that allow you to compete against yourghosts, which are precise recordings of your performance.
  15. Someone whoseidentity cannot be established because there are no records of such a person.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  16. (quantum mechanics) Anunphysicalstate in agauge theory.
    • 1966, Kàzmèr L. Nagy,State Vector Spaces with Indefinite Metric in Quantum Field Theory, page14:
      The proof is well known, and independent of the metric, but to make certain we prove it here also for the case when the state vector system of an operator contains multipole[sic]ghosts.
    • 2019, Radin Dardashti, Richard Dawid, Karim Thébault,Why Trust a Theory?, page180:
      Soon after, the proof of theNo-Ghost Theorem, establishing that the DRM has noghosts ifd ≤ 26, was achieved independently by Brower (1972) and by Goddard and Thorn (1972).
  17. (attributive, linguistics, computing) A formerlynonexistentcharacter that was at some pointmistakenlyencoded into acharacter setstandard, which might have since become usedopportunistically for somegenuine purpose.
    彁 is aghost character from the Japanese JIS X 0208 character set.
  18. (countable)Clipping ofghost pepper.
    • 2018 October 2, Julie Thompson-Adolf,Starting & Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden, Cool Springs Press,→ISBN, page68:
      Spicy or mild, lovely bells or scaryghosts, peppers belong in your garden. Not only are they delicious, they add a gorgeous pop of color to vegetable gardens. When starting pepper seeds, consider using a heat mat.
    • 2022 July 5, Alice Zaslavsky,In Praise of Veg: The Ultimate Cookbook for Vegetable Lovers, Appetite by Random House,→ISBN:
      Fresh chili has a glossy smooth skin like a bell pepper...unless you're in scorching territory, with the likes ofGhosts or Reapers (their name should give the game away), where the skin looks [wrinkled].
  19. (uncountable) A game in which players take turns to add aletter to a possible word, trying not to complete a word.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  20. (attributive, in names of species)White orpale.
  21. (attributive, in names of species)Transparent ortranslucent.
  22. (attributive)Abandoned.
  23. (attributive) Remnant; theremains of a(n).
    ghost apples (a thin layer of ice in the shape of an apple, which forms around it and is left behind when the apple rots and falls out)
    ghost fossils (impressions of things like shells that remain in the rock after the shell etc dissolves)
    ghost cell
    ghost craters (craters that have been filled, e.g. with volcanic deposits)
  24. (attributive) Perceived or listed but notreal.
    ghost cellphone vibration
    ghost pain
  25. (attributive) Ofcryptid,supernatural orextraterrestrial nature.
  26. (attributive)Substitute.
    ghost singer

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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soul—seesoul
spirit appearing after death
faint shadowy semblance
false image in an optical device
false image on a television screen
ghostwriter—seeghostwriter
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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Other terms of interest

Verb

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ghost (third-person singular simple presentghosts,present participleghosting,simple past and past participleghosted)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) Tohaunt; to appear to in the form of anapparition.
  2. (obsolete) Todie; toexpire.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  3. (literary) To imbue with a ghost-like hue or effect.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay,Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.:Ure Smith, published1962,→OCLC, page32:
      It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light,ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.
  4. (ambitransitive) Toghostwrite.
    • 1976 September,Saul Bellow,Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.:Avon Books,→ISBN,page41:
      Well, you wrote a few books, you wrote a famous play, and even that was halfghosted.
    • 2014 March 9, Elizabeth Day, “Is the LRB the best magazine in the world?”, inThe Observer‎[4]:
      The current issue carries an extraordinary 26,000-word piece by Andrew O'Hagan on his failed attempt toghost the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's memoir, which was trending on Twitter before copies even hit the news-stands.
  5. (nautical) Tosail seemingly without wind.
    • 2016, Nathanael Johnson,Unseen City,→ISBN, page192:
      They move without any visible sign of movement, like a wakeless shipghosting over the water.
  6. (computing) Tocopy afile orrecord.(Can weverify(+) this sense?)
  7. (graphical user interface) Togray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.
    • 1991,Amiga User Interface Style Guide, page76:
      Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should beghosted. Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.
  8. (Internet, transitive) To forciblydisconnect anIRCuser who is using one's reservednickname.
    • 2001, Luke, “to leave (vb.): Hurg[OT]”, inalt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island (Usenet):
      I'm so untechnical that I onceghosted a registered IRC nick and then tried to identify myself to NickServ with the valid password before actually changing my nick to the aforementioned moniker.
  9. (intransitive) Toappear ormove withoutwarning,quickly andquietly; toslip.
    • 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, inBBC Sport‎[5]:
      Arsenal came into the match under severe pressure and nerves were palpable early on as Pratley was brilliantly denied by Szczesny afterghosting in front of Kieran Gibbs
    • 2011, Mark Harnden,In the Dark Backyard,→ISBN, page59:
      At the flank of the main stage, I took root for an hour, until a female formghosted in front of me that I recognised from university two years before.
    • 2012, Ian Tregillis,Bitter Seeds,→ISBN:
      Heghosted through the door. It clanged a few seconds later as his pursuer pounded on it.
  10. (transitive) To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison without the prior knowledge of other inmates.
    • 2020, Jamie Bennett, Victoria Knight,Prisoners on Prison Films, page26:
      His power base, however, is undermined by him being constantly, “ghosted”, or moved from prison to prison.
  11. (slang) Tokill.
    • 2000, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy,Pitch Black (film):
      My recommendation: Do me. Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass.Ghost me, Riddick. Would if I were you. Though I notice he tried toghost my ass. When he shot up that stranger instead.
    • 2004, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy,The Chronicles of Riddick (film):
      He justghosted two guys, and I never even saw him. Plan was to clean the bank,ghost the mercs, break wide through the tunnel.
    • 2013, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy,Riddick (film):
      This may come as a shock to you, Johns, but I didn'tghost your son. He seemed set on killin' himself. Diaz was gonna take the nodes for himself andghost me. He was gonna leave you out here alone.
    • 2017 September 28, Josh Corbin, 37:03 from the start, inStart Up, season 2, episode 6, spoken by Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi):
      RONALD:”They tried toghost your girl Isabel right here”. WES CHANDLER(played byRon Perlman):”Tried to ‘ghost’ her?” RONALD:”Merk. 86. Put her down in the dirt. You feel me?”
  12. (slang, social media) To perform an act ofghosting: tobreak up with someone without warning or explanation; toignore someone, especially onsocial media.
    • 2015 October 15, “Why is it so hard to go from chatting on Tinder to meeting up in real life?”, inThe Guardian‎[6]:
      I’ve recently been trying out Tinder, and while I match with people and even chat with them everything seems to be going well, but whenever I bring up meeting IRL, they are quick toghost me.
    • 2016 March 21, Allison P. Davies, “What I Learned Tindering My Way Across Europe”, inTravel + Leisure‎[7], archived fromthe original on2018-01-06:
      By 6 p.m., I had a list of restaurants to try from Hamish, a chef who couldn’t meet, a follow-up from Adam (“I’ve never seen a room at the Ace....”), and an offer from Agoraphobic Paul to come over and “have a joint and a cuddle.” I’d confirmed a walking tour of Greenwich from Max, whoghosted.
    • 2017 September 26, Judith Duportail, “I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets”, inThe Guardian‎[8]:
      Tinder knows me so well. It knows the real, inglorious version of me who copy-pasted the same joke to match 567, 568, and 569; who exchanged compulsively with 16 different people simultaneously one New Year’s Day, and thenghosted 16 of them.
    • 2018,Ling Ma, chapter 17, inSeverance,→ISBN:
      He had texted, called, and emailed a bunch since then. I hadn't meant toghost, but it was just easier not to deal with it.
  13. (film) To provide the speaking or singing voice for another actor, who islip-syncing.
    • 1955,Saturday Review (volume 38, part 2, page 27)
      Here's how it went: Larry Parks as elderly Al Jolson was watching Larry Parks playing young Al Jolson in thefirst movie — in other words, Parksghosting for Parks. At the same time, Jolson himself wasghosting the voices for both of them.
    • 1999,The Golden Age of Musicals, page50:
      One of the few performers to triumph overghosting was Ava Gardner in Freed'sShow Boat (1951). Not only does she lip-synch with breathtaking accuracy, her performance gives the cotton-candy production its only underpinning of realism.

Derived terms

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Translations

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literary: to imbue with a ghost-like hue or effect
transitive, intransitive: to ghostwrite—seeghostwrite
nautical: to sail seemingly without wind
computing: to copy a file or record—see alsocopy
graphical user interface: to gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable—see alsogray out
Internet, transitive: to forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname—see alsodisconnect
intransitive: to appear or move without warning, quickly and quietly; to slip—see alsoslip
transitive: to transfer (a prisoner) to another prison without the prior knowledge of other inmates
slang: to kill—seekill
slang, social media: to perform an act of ghosting: to break up with someone without warning or explanation; to ignore someone, especially on social media
film: to provide the speaking or singing voice for another actor, who is lip-syncing

Adjective

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ghost (notcomparable)

  1. (slang, African-American Vernacular)Gone;absent; not present or involved.
    • 2007, Abiola Abrams,Dare (page 296)
      Thug held up a middle finger. "A'ight y'all. I'mghost."
    • 2019, “Going Through It” (track 6), inIgnorance Is Bliss, performed bySkepta:
      But I don't see no competition in the game and I'm pissing on it
      If it ain't about the family, then I'mghost and that's a promise

References

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  1. ^Crystal, David (2012)Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling, London: Profile Books Ltd,→ISBN
  2. ^Wells, J. C. (1982)Accents of English, volume 3: Beyond the British Isles, Cambridge University Press,→ISBN, page628

Anagrams

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