Contextualizebeta

haunt

verb
/hɔːnt/UK/hɔnt/US/hɑnt/

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.

  1. derived from *ḱóymos✻
  2. derived from *haimaz✻
  3. derived from *haimatjaną✻
  4. derived from hāmettan
  5. derived from heimta
  6. derived from hanter — “to go back home, frequent”
  7. derived from hanter
  8. inherited from haunten

Definitions

  1. To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).

    • 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.

  2. To make uneasy, restless.

    • The memory of his past failures haunted him.
    • The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defence.

  3. To stalk

    To stalk; to follow.

    • 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
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. To live habitually

      To live habitually; to stay, to remain.

      • 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;[…]

    2. To accustom

      To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.

      • […]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].

    3. To practise

      To practise; to devote oneself to.

      • Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.

    4. To persist in staying or visiting.

      • I haue charg’d thee not to haunt about my doores:[…]

    5. A place at which one is regularly found

      A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.

      • 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.

    6. A ghost.

    7. A lair or feeding place of animals.

      • 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.

The neighborhood

Derived

come back to haunt, de-haunt, dehaunt, dishaunt, hauntable, hauntee, haunter, hauntology, hauntsome, haunty, home haunt

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for haunt. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA