Word: ghost Part of Speech: noun 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”) Pronunciation: /ɡəʊst/, /ɡoʊst/, /ɡɐʉst/, /ɡʱoːsʈ/, /ɡoːsʈ/ 1. A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Everyone believed that the ghost of an old lady haunted the crypt. Example: He believes in ghosts. 2. A spirit; a human soul. Labels: archaic, countable, literary, uncountable Example: hen gins her grieued ghost thus to lament and mourne. Example: Enlightening the eyes and a taste for hope, emotions are felt from an inward ghost. 3. Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image. Labels: broadly, countable, uncountable Example: not a ghost of a chance Example: the ghost of an idea 4. 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). Labels: countable, uncountable Example: There was less flicker, jitter was nonexistent, and the screen pattern had been rendered far more viewworthy, with ghosts being virtually suppressed. 5. A faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Regardless of GRM used, graffiti ghosts persist. Protect cladding with surface coating or replace with graffiti resistant paint or laminate. 6. Ellipsis of ghostwriter. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Example: I’ve written both as a ghost for experts and under my name. 7. A nonexistent person invented to obtain some (typically fraudulent) benefit. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Some health systems are plagued by "ghost" and "absent" workers. Ghost workers are nonexistent, listed in the payroll, and paid, a clear sign of corruption. Example: 1,500 secondary schools in Jiangxi found 125 cases of illegally collected Ghosts and Absentees fees worth $2 million. 8. A dead person whose identity is stolen by another (see ghosting). Labels: countable, uncountable 9. An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server. Labels: Internet, countable, uncountable Example: This will let you open a query with NickServ again so you can remove your “ghost” from the server: […] 10. A copy of a file or record. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. An understudy. Labels: countable, uncountable 12. A covert (and deniable) agent. Labels: countable, uncountable 13. An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: This is also the case for some racing games (Super Mario Kart is a good example) that allow you to compete against your ghosts, which are precise recordings of your performance. 14. Someone whose identity cannot be established because there are no records of such a person. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: "[…]no record of a Robert, or Bobby, Maclain that fits our man's description," Kuzbec said. "No social, no driver's license, no address, no military service record. He's a ghost." Kirov did find that interesting. Example: "He's a ghost. No record of any kind, anywhere. I got nothing when I did a trace. I'm thinking he was either erased or he's something we don't know about." Nyk rubbed at his jaw. "If he was erased, Syn, he'd have a record[…]" 15. An unphysical state in a gauge theory. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The proof is well known, and independent of the metric, but to make certain we prove it here also for the case when the state vector system of an operator contains multipole^([sic]) ghosts. Example: Soon after, the proof of the No-Ghost Theorem, establishing that the DRM has no ghosts if d ≤ 26, was achieved independently by Brower (1972) and by Goddard and Thorn (1972). 16. 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. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: 彁 is a ghost character from the Japanese JIS X 0208 character set. 17. Ellipsis of ghost pepper. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis Example: Spicy or mild, lovely bells or scary ghosts, peppers belong in your garden. Not only are they delicious, they add a gorgeous pop of color to vegetable gardens. When starting pepper seeds, consider using a heat mat. Example: Fresh chili has a glossy smooth skin like a bell pepper...unless you're in scorching territory, with the likes of Ghosts or Reapers (their name should give the game away), where the skin looks [wrinkled]. 18. A game in which players take turns to add a letter to a possible word, trying not to complete a word. Labels: capitalized, often, uncountable Example: GHOST. This is a spelling game. A person gives a letter, […] his next neighbor must think of a word beginning with this letter, and then say the second letter, […] Example: […]word is, you win the round. But be warned : if she does have a real word in mind, you lose. Bluffing[:] It's possible to bluff in Ghost. For example, you can pretend to add a suffix to a word, even if that word doesn't exist. If no[…] 19. White or pale. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost slug Example: ghost flower 20. Transparent or translucent. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost ant Example: ghost catfish 21. Abandoned. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost town Example: ghost ship 22. Remnant; remains. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost apples (a thin layer of ice in the shape of an apple, which forms around it and is left behind when the apple rots and falls out) Example: ghost fossils (impressions of things like shells that remain in the rock after the shell etc dissolves) 23. Perceived or listed but not real. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost cellphone vibration Example: ghost pain 24. Of a cryptid, supernatural or extraterrestrial nature. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost rocket Example: ghost deer 25. Substitute. Labels: attributive, countable, uncountable Example: ghost writer Example: ghost singer