GHOST

ghost, shade, spook, wraith, specter, spectre

(noun) a mental representation of some haunting experience; “he looked like he had seen a ghost”; “it aroused specters from his past”

touch, trace, ghost

(noun) a suggestion of some quality; “there was a touch of sarcasm in his tone”; “he detected a ghost of a smile on her face”

ghost

(noun) the visible disembodied soul of a dead person

ghostwriter, ghost

(noun) a writer who gives the credit of authorship to someone else

ghost, ghostwrite

(verb) write for someone else; “How many books have you ghostwritten so far?”

haunt, obsess, ghost

(verb) haunt like a ghost; pursue; “Fear of illness haunts her”

ghost

(verb) move like a ghost; “The masked men ghosted across the moonlit yard”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

ghost (plural ghosts)

(dated) The spirit; the soul of man.

The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death

Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image

A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.

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.

A ghostwriter.

(Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.

(computing) An image of a file or hard disk.

(theatre) An understudy.

(espionage) A covert (and deniable) agent.

The faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.

(video games) An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times.

A dead person whose identity is stolen by another. See ghosting.

(attributive, in names of species) White or pale.

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

(attributive) Abandoned.

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

(attributive) Perceived or listed but not real.

(attributive) Of cryptid, supernatural or extraterrestrial nature.

(attributive) Substitute.

Synonyms

• (soul): essence, soul, spirit

• (spirit appearing after death): apparition, bogey, haint, phantom, revenant, specter/spectre, spook, wraith.

• (faint shadowy semblance): glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, hint, inkling, phantom, spark, suggestion.

• (false image in an optical device)

• (false image on a television screen): echo

• (ghostwriter): ghostwriter

• (unresponsive user)

• (image of file): backup

• (understudy): understudy

• (covert agent): spook, spy

• (image from removed graffiti): shadow

• (opponent in racing game)

• (victim of stolen identity)

• See also ghost

Verb

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

(obsolete, transitive) To haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.

(obsolete) To die; to expire.

(ambitransitive) To ghostwrite.

(nautical) To sail seemingly without wind.

(computing) To copy a file or hard drive image.

(GUI) To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.

(internet, transitive) To forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname.

To appear without warning; to move quickly and quietly; to slip.

To kill.

(slang) To break up with someone without warning or explanation; to perform an act of ghosting.

Anagrams

• Goths, gosht, goths

Source: Wiktionary


Ghost, n. Etym: [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]

1. The spirit; the soul of man. [Obs.] Then gives her grieved ghost thus to lament. Spenser.

2. The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter. The mighty ghosts of our great Harrys rose. Shak. I thought that I had died in sleep, And was a blessed ghost. Coleridge.

3. Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image; a phantom; a glimmering; as, not a ghost of a chance; the ghost of an idea. Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Poe.

4. A false image formed in a telescope by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses. Ghost moth (Zoöl.), a large European moth (Hepialus humuli); so called from the white color of the male, and the peculiar hovering flight; -- called also great swift.

– Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit; the Paraclete; the Comforter; (Theol.) the third person in the Trinity.

– To give up or yield up the ghost, to die; to expire. And he gave up the ghost full softly. Chaucer. Jacob . . . yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. Gen. xlix. 33.

Ghost, v. i.

Definition: To die; to expire. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.

Ghost, v. t.

Definition: To appear to or haunt in the form of an apparition. [Obs.] Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 April 2024

SUBDUCTION

(noun) a geological process in which one edge of a crustal plate is forced sideways and downward into the mantle below another plate


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Coffee Trivia

There are four varieties of commercially viable coffee: Arabica, Liberica, Excelsa, and Robusta. Growers predominantly plant the Arabica species. Although less popular, Robusta tastes slightly more bitter and contains more caffeine.

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