“ghosts” is a form of
ghost
UK /ɡəʊst/ · US /ɡoʊst/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms ghosts ghosting ghosted ghoast gost
- noun A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death. “Everyone believed that the ghost of an old lady haunted the crypt.”
- noun (Christianity, literary, chiefly archaic) A spirit; a human soul.
- noun (by extension) Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image. “not a ghost of a chance”
- noun A false image, for example in a photographic print or negative, or on a television screen or radar display, or in a telescope, caused by poor or double reception or reflection (from a lens or screen).
- noun (cleaning, graffiti slang) A faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.
- noun A nonexistent person invented to obtain some (typically fraudulent) benefit.
- noun A dead person whose identity is stolen by another (see ghosting).
- noun (Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
- adjective (African-American Vernacular, slang) In the form be ghost: not present or involved; absent, gone.
- verb Of a disembodied soul: to appear (somewhere or to someone) in the form of an apparition; to haunt.
- verb To imbue (something) with a ghost-like effect or hue.
- verb To continuously cause (someone or something) trouble; specifically, to continuously be in the thoughts of (someone) in a disturbing manner; to perturb, to trouble.
- verb (slang) To kill (someone).
- verb (graphical user interface) To gray out (a visual element) to indicate that it is unavailable.
- verb (Internet) To forcibly disconnect (an IRC user) who is using one's reserved nickname.
- verb (chiefly social media, slang) To stop communicating with (someone) on social media, through text messages, etc., without explanation, especially as a way of ending a relationship; hence, to end a relationship with (someone) by stopping all communication without explanation.
- verb (chiefly UK, law enforcement) To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison, usually without first informing the prisoner.
Synonyms
apparition bogey phantom revenant specter spook essence soul spirit anima glimmer glimmering glimpse hint inkling spark suggestion echo shadow backup shade wraith spectre ghostwriter touch trace haunt obsess ghostwrite
Etymology
The noun is derived 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, from *ǵʰéysd- (“anger, agitation”).
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”. It was likely influenced by Middle Dutch gheest, a common variant of geest. Both Caxton and his assistant Wynkyn de Worde had connections to the Low Countries. Doublet of geist.
The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. The verb gained prominence in the 2010s.
* Danish gast (“ghost”), gejst (“enthusiasm”)
* Dutch geest (“ghost, spirit”)
* German Geist (“ghost, spirit”)
* Luxembourgish Geescht (“ghost, spirit, spectre, phantom”)
* Saterland Frisian Gäist, Jeest (“ghost, spirit”)
* Scots gaist, ghaist (“ghost”)
* Swedish gast (“ghost”)
* Vilamovian gȧjst (“ghost, spirit”)
* West Frisian geast (“ghost, spirit”)
* Yiddish גײַסט (gayst, “ghost, spirit”)
* Yola gaast (“ghost”)
Webster’s 1913
- noun The spirit; the soul of man. [Obs.]
- noun The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter.
- verb To die; to expire. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
- verb To appear to or haunt in the form of an apparition. [Obs.]
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ghost”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details