Haunt Definition

hônt, hŏnt
haunted, haunting, haunts
verb
haunted, haunting, haunts
To inhabit, visit, or appear to in the form of a ghost or other supernatural being.
American Heritage
To visit (a place) often or continually; frequent.
Webster's New World
To seek the company or companionship of; run after.
Webster's New World
To come to the mind of continually; obsess.
A riddle that haunted me all morning.
American Heritage
To appear or recur repeatedly to, often to the point of obsession.
Memories haunted her.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
  • hover about
  • inhabit
  • appear as a phantom
  • come as a ghost
  • spook
  • visit habitually after death
  • reappear frequently to after death
  • manifest itself
  • return from the dead
  • ha-nt
  • be disclosed
  • walk
  • dwell in
  • before the eyes
  • float
noun
haunts
A place often visited.
To make the library one's haunt.
Webster's New World
A lair or feeding place of animals.
Webster's New World
A ghost.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Haunt

Noun

Singular:
haunt
Plural:
haunts

Origin of Haunt

  • From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), of Germanic origin, probably through Gothic *[script?] (haimatjan, “to lead home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *kōim- (“village”). Cognate with Old English hāmettan (“to provide housing to, bring home”), Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) (Swedish hämta); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. More at home.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English haunten to frequent from Old French hanter tkei- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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