ghost

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

English

Alternative forms

• ghoast, gost (both obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English gost, from Old English gāst, which was the word for "spirit" as well as "ghost" (the original sense survives in Modern English Holy Ghost from Old English Hāliġ Gāst). Further from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéysdos, derived from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”).

Cognate with Scots ghaist (“ghost”), Saterland Frisian Gäist (“spirit”), West Frisian geast (“spirit”), Dutch geest (“spirit, mind, ghost”), German Geist (“spirit, mind, intellect”), Swedish gast (“ghost”). Wider cognates include Sanskrit हेड (héḍa, “anger, hatred”), Persian زشت (zešt, “ugly, hateful, disgusting”).

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡəʊst/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɡɐʉst/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡoʊst/
• Rhymes: -əʊst

Noun

ghost (countable and uncountable, plural ghosts)

1. (uncommon or dated) The spirit; the human soul.

   Synonyms: essence, soul, spirit; see also Thesaurus:ghost
2. The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.

   Synonyms: apparition, bogey, haint, phantom, revenant, specter, spook, wraith
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.
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.
9. (Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
10. (computing) An image of a file or hard disk.

    Synonym: backup

11. (theater) An understudy.
12. (espionage) A covert (and deniable) agent.

    Synonyms: spook, spy

13. The 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 him/her.
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.
20. (attributive, in names of species) White or pale.

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

22. (attributive) Abandoned.

23. (attributive) Remnant; the 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.
3. (literary) To imbue with a ghost-like hue or effect.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To ghostwrite.
5. (nautical) To sail seemingly without wind.
6. (computing) To copy a file or hard drive image.
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

References

Anagrams

• Goths, gosht, goths