ghost
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡəʊst/
ipa: /ɡoʊst/
text: -
text: -
ipa: /ɡɐʉst/
note: Indic, spelling pronunciation
ipa: /ɡʱosʈ/
rhymes: -əʊst
Forms: form: ghosts
form: ghosting
form: ghosted
form: ghosted
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.
cognates
* 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”)
Senses: examples: text: since Julius Caesar, / Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], line 1221:
glosses: Of a disembodied soul: to appear (somewhere or to someone) in the form of an apparition; to haunt.
examples: text: It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light, ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.
ref: 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 32:
glosses: To imbue (something) with a ghost-like effect or hue.
glosses: To continuously cause (someone or something) trouble; specifically, to continuously be in the thoughts of (someone) in a disturbing manner; to perturb, to trouble.
examples: text: My recommendation: Do me. Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass. Ghost me, Riddick. Would if I were you. Though I notice he tried to ghost my ass. When he shot up that stranger instead.
ref: 2000, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, Pitch Black (film):
text: He just ghosted two guys, and I never even saw him. Plan was to clean the bank, ghost the mercs, break wide through the tunnel.
ref: 2004, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, The Chronicles of Riddick (film):
text: This may come as a shock to you, Johns, but I didn't ghost your son. He seemed set on killin' himself. Diaz was gonna take the nodes for himself and ghost me. He was gonna leave you out here alone.
ref: 2013, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, David Twohy, Riddick (film):
text: RONALD: ”They tried to ghost your girl Isabel right here”. WES CHANDLER (played by Ron Perlman): ”Tried to ‘ghost’ her?” RONALD: ”Merk. 86. Put her down in the dirt. You feel me?”
ref: 2017 September 28, Josh Corbin, 37:03 from the start, in Start Up, season 2, episode 6, spoken by Ronald Dacey (Edi Gathegi):
glosses: To kill (someone).
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To copy (a file or record).
examples: text: Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should be ghosted. Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.
ref: 1991, Amiga User Interface Style Guide, page 76:
topics: computing
engineering
graphical-user-interface
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To gray out (a visual element) to indicate that it is unavailable.
examples: text: I'm so untechnical that I once ghosted a registered IRC nick and then tried to identify myself to NickServ with the valid password before actually changing my nick to the aforementioned moniker.
ref: 2001, Luke, “to leave (vb.): Hurg [OT]”, in alt.games.lucas-arts.monkey-island (Usenet):
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To forcibly disconnect (an IRC user) who is using one's reserved nickname.
examples: text: I've recently been trying out Tinder, and while I match with people and even chat with them everything seems to be going well, but whenever I bring up meeting IRL, they are quick to ghost me.
ref: 2015 October 15, “Why is it so hard to go from chatting on Tinder to meeting up in real life?”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: By 6 p.m., I had a list of restaurants to try from Hamish, a chef who couldn't meet, a follow-up from Adam ("I've never seen a room at the Ace...."), and an offer from Agoraphobic Paul to come over and "have a joint and a cuddle." I'd confirmed a walking tour of Greenwich from Max, who ghosted.
ref: 2016 March 21, Allison P. Davies, “What I Learned Tindering My Way Across Europe”, in Travel + Leisure, archived from the original on 06 Jan 2018:
text: Tinder knows me so well. It knows the real, inglorious version of me who copy-pasted the same joke to match 567, 568, and 569; who exchanged compulsively with 16 different people simultaneously one New Year's Day, and then ghosted 16 of them.
ref: 2017 September 26, Judith Duportail, “I asked Tinder for my data. It sent me 800 pages of my deepest, darkest secrets”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
text: He had texted, called, and emailed a bunch since then. I hadn't meant to ghost, but it was just easier not to deal with it.
ref: 2018, Ling Ma, chapter 17, in Severance, →ISBN:
qualifier: chiefly social media
glosses: To stop communicating with (someone) on social media, though 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.
examples: text: His power base, however, is undermined by him being constantly, “ghosted”, or moved from prison to prison.
ref: 2020, Jamie Bennett, Victoria Knight, Prisoners on Prison Films, page 26:
topics: government
law-enforcement
glosses: To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison, usually without first informing the prisoner.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1955, Saturday Review (volume 38, part 2, page 27)
text: Well, you wrote a few books, you wrote a famous play, and even that was half ghosted.
ref: 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 41:
text: One of the few performers to triumph over ghosting was Ava Gardner in Freed's Show Boat (1951). Not only does she lip-synch with breathtaking accuracy, her performance gives the cotton-candy production its only underpinning of realism.
ref: 1999, The Golden Age of Musicals, page 50:
text: The current issue carries an extraordinary 26,000-word piece by Andrew O'Hagan on his failed attempt to ghost the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's memoir, which was trending on Twitter before copies even hit the news-stands.
ref: 2014 March 9, Elizabeth Day, “Is the LRB the best magazine in the world?”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
glosses: Synonym of ghostwrite (“to write (a literary work or speech), or produce (an artistic work)), in the place of someone”); also, to carry out (an artistic performance) in the place of someone.
synonyms: word: ghostwrite
extra: (“to write (a literary work or speech), or produce (an artistic work)), in the place of someone”); also, to carry out (an artistic performance) in the place of someone
examples: text: Arsenal came into the match under severe pressure and nerves were palpable early on as Pratley was brilliantly denied by Szczesny after ghosting in front of Kieran Gibbs
ref: 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport:
text: At the flank of the main stage, I took root for an hour, until a female form ghosted in front of me that I recognised from university two years before.
ref: 2011, Mark Harnden, In the Dark Backyard, →ISBN, page 59:
text: He ghosted through the door. It clanged a few seconds later as his pursuer pounded on it.
ref: 2012, Ian Tregillis, Bitter Seeds, →ISBN:
glosses: To appear suddenly or move like a disembodied soul; specifically (often sports); also (transitive, dated) followed by the dummy subject it: to move easily and quietly without anyone noticing; to slip.
glosses: Followed by for: synonym of ghostwrite (“to write a literary work or speech, or produce an artistic work, in the place of someone”); also, to carry out an artistic performance in the place of someone.
examples: text: They move without any visible sign of movement, like a wakeless ship ghosting over the water.
ref: 2016, Nathanael Johnson, Unseen City, →ISBN, page 192:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Of a sailing vessel: to sail seemingly with very little or no wind.
glosses: Apparently only in the writings of the Dutch-English physician Gideon Harvey (c. 1636–1640 – c. 1700–1702): to die, to expire.
Derived terms: word: ghoster
word: ghosting