ghost

English Online Dictionary. What means ghost‎? What does ghost mean?

English

Alternative forms

• ghoast, gost (both obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited 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, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäist, Jeest, West Frisian geast, Dutch geest, German Low German Geest, Geist, German Geist, Swedish gast.

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’, likely introduced by Caxton's assistant, Wynkyn de Worde, as a result of Flemish influence, where it was spelled gheest at the time. Doublet of geist.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡəʊst/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɡɐʉst/
• (Indic, spelling pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɡʱoːsʈ/
• Rhymes: -əʊst

Noun

ghost (countable and uncountable, plural ghosts)

1. A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.

   Synonyms: apparition, bogey, haint, phantom, revenant, specter, spook, wraith
2. (archaic, Christianity, literary) A spirit; a human soul.

   Synonyms: essence, soul, spirit; see also Thesaurus:ghost
3. Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image.

   Synonyms: glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, hint, inkling, phantom, spark, suggestion.

4. A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ 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
6. A ghostwriter.

7. A nonexistent person invented to obtain some (typically fraudulent) benefit.
   • 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 and ghosts [nonexistent campers one pays for to legitimately increase the size of one's allotted camping space].

8. A dead person whose identity is stolen by another. See ghosting. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
9. (Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
10. (computing) A copy of a file or record.

    Synonym: backup

11. (theater) An understudy. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
12. (espionage) A covert (and deniable) agent.

    Synonyms: spook, spy

13. A faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.

    Synonym: shadow
14. (video games) An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times.
15. Someone whose identity cannot be established because there are no records of such a person. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
16. (quantum mechanics) An unphysical state in a gauge theory.
17. (attributive, linguistics, computing) A formerly nonexistent character that was at some point mistakenly encoded into a character set standard, which might have since become used opportunistically for some genuine purpose.

18. (countable) Clipping of ghost pepper.
19. (uncountable) A game in which players take turns to add a letter to a possible word, trying not to complete a word. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
20. (attributive, in names of species) White or pale.

21. (attributive, in names of species) Transparent or translucent.

22. (attributive) Abandoned.

23. (attributive) Remnant; remains of a(n).

24. (attributive) Perceived or listed but not real.

25. (attributive) Of cryptid, supernatural or extraterrestrial nature.

26. (attributive) Substitute.

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: ゴースト (gōsuto)

Translations

See also

Verb

ghost (third-person singular simple present ghosts, present participle ghosting, simple past and past participle ghosted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.
2. (obsolete) To die; to expire. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
3. (literary) To imbue with a ghost-like hue or effect.
4. (ambitransitive) To ghostwrite.
5. (nautical) To sail seemingly without wind.
6. (computing) To copy a file or record. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
7. (graphical user interface) To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.
8. (Internet, transitive) To forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname.
9. (intransitive) To appear or move without warning, quickly and quietly; to slip.
10. (transitive) To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison without the prior knowledge of other inmates.
11. (slang) To kill.
12. (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.
13. (film) To provide the speaking or singing voice for another actor, who is lip-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 the first movie — in other words, Parks ghosting for Parks. At the same time, Jolson himself was ghosting the voices for both of them.

Derived terms

• beghost

Translations

Adjective

ghost (not comparable)

1. (slang, African-American Vernacular) Gone; absent; not present or involved.

References

Anagrams

• Goths, gosht, goths