haunt
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /hɔːnt/
enpr: hônt
ipa: /hɔnt/
enpr: hônt
ipa: /hɑnt/
enpr: hänt
rhymes: -ɔːnt
Forms: form: haunts
form: haunting
form: haunted
form: haunted
form: hant
form: ha'nt
form: haint
form: harnt
Etymology: From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English hāmettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village”).
Cognate with Old English hǣman (“to cohabit, lie with, marry”); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.
Senses: examples: text: A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
text: You wrong me Sir,thus ſtill to haunt my houſe.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 52, column 1:
text: Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
ref: 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:
text: those cares that haunt the court and town
ref: 1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII:
glosses: To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
examples: text: The memory of his past failures haunted him.
text: The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defence.
ref: 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring:
glosses: To make uneasy, restless.
examples: text: The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
text: Ex's and the oh-oh-oh's, they haunt me / Like ghosts, they want me / To make 'em a-a-all / They won't let go / Ex's and oh's
ref: 2014 September 23, Elle King, Dave Bassett, “Ex's & Oh's”, in Love Stuff, performed by Elle King:
glosses: To stalk; to follow.
examples: text: Ieſus therfore walked no more openly amõge the iewes : butt went his waye thence vnto a countre ny to a wildernes into a cite called effraym / and there haunted with his diſciples.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John xj:[54], folio cxxxviij, verso:
text: […]That yonder in that faithfull wilderneſſe / Huge monſters haunt,and many dangers dwell;[…]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 40, page 554:
glosses: To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
examples: text: […]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].
ref: c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, I. Timothy 4:7, columns 1, 2:
english: […] haunt thyself to piety.
translation: […] haunt thyself to piety.
bold_translation_offsets: 4
9
glosses: To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
examples: text: Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
ref: a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC:
glosses: To practise; to devote oneself to.
examples: text: I haue charg’d thee not to haunt about my doores:[…]
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311, column 1:
glosses: To persist in staying or visiting.
Synonyms: sense: to make uneasy
word: nag
sense: to live habitually
word: live
word: dwell
Derived terms: come back to haunt
de-haunt
dehaunt
dishaunt
hauntable
hauntee
haunter
hauntology
hauntsome
haunty