noun

1. the spirit or soul: now only in give up the ghost (to die) and in Holy Ghost
2. Folklore a dead person's disembodied spirit, esp. when thought of as appearing to the living as a pale, shadowy apparition
3. a haunting memory
4. 1. a faint, shadowy semblance; inkling
   2. a slight trace not a ghost of a chance
5. ☆ Informal ghostwriter
6. Optics, TV an unwanted secondary image

Etymology: altered (prob. after Fl gheest) < ME goste < OE gast, soul, spirit, demon, akin to Ger geist < IE base *gheizd-, to be excited, frightened > Sans hēḋ-, to be angry

intransitive verb

transitive verb

1. to haunt
2. ☆ to be the ghostwriter of