haunt
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: haunts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: haunting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: haunted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: haunted
pos: verb
tags: past
form: hant
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: ha'nt
pos: verb
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
form: haint
pos: verb
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
form: harnt
pos: verb
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
form: haunts
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hant
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: ha'nt
pos: noun
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
form: haint
pos: noun
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
form: harnt
pos: noun
tags: alternative
US
pronunciation-spelling
Senses:
gloss: To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
You wrong me Sir,thus ſtill to haunt my houſe.
Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
those cares that haunt the court and town
gloss: To make uneasy, restless.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The memory of his past failures haunted him.
The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defence.
gloss: To stalk; to follow.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
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
gloss: To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
examples: 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.
[…]That yonder in that faithfull wilderneſſe / Huge monſters haunt,and many dangers dwell;[…]
gloss: To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
UK
dialectal
transitive
examples: […]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].
gloss: To practise; to devote oneself to.
pos: verb
tags: Northern-England
Scotland
UK
dialectal
transitive
examples: Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
gloss: To persist in staying or visiting.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I haue charg’d thee not to haunt about my doores:[…]
gloss: A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.
pos: noun
examples: The shopping mall is a popular haunt of the local teenagers in this town.
I went back the town I used to live and visited all my old haunts.
It is a great rock or cliff on the loneliest part of the mountains, and, … is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies which lie on the surface.
Both Jack and Fletcher had graduated the year before, but still took an interest in their old haunts, and patronized the fellows who were not yet through.
Wyoming has been a favorite haunt of paleontologists for the past century ever since westering pioneers reported that many vertebrate fossils were almost lying on the ground.
It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.
gloss: A ghost.
pos: noun
tags: dialectal
gloss: A lair or feeding place of animals.
pos: noun
examples: The lofty mountains roſe faint to the ſight and loſt their foreheads in the diſtant ſkies: the little hills, cloathed in darker green and ſkirted with embroidered vales, diſcovered the ſecret haunts of kids and bounding roes.
Synonyms: dwell
Derived words: come back to haunt
de-haunt
dehaunt
dishaunt
hauntable
hauntee
haunter
hauntology
hauntsome
haunty
home haunt
Translations: