Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Haunt
Haunt
(hänt; 277)
, Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Haunted
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Haunting
.] 1.
To frequent; to resort to frequently; to visit pertinaciously or intrusively; to intrude upon.
You wrong me, sir, thus still to
haunt
my house. Shakespeare
Those cares that
haunt
the court and town. Swift.
2.
To inhabit or frequent as a specter; to visit as a ghost or apparition; – said of spirits or ghosts, especially of dead people;
as, the murdered man
. haunts
the house where he diedFoul spirits
haunt
my resting place. Fairfax.
3.
To practice; to devote one’s self to.
[Obs.]
That other merchandise that men
haunt
with fraud . . . is cursed. Chaucer.
Leave honest pleasure, and
haunt
no good pastime. Ascham.
4.
To accustom; to habituate.
[Obs.]
Haunt
thyself to pity. Wyclif.
Haunt
,Verb.
I.
To persist in staying or visiting.
I've charged thee not to
haunt
about my doors. Shakespeare
Haunt
,Noun.
1.
A place to which one frequently resorts;
as, drinking saloons are the
haunts
of tipplers; a den is the haunt
of wild beasts.☞ In Old English the place occupied by any one as a dwelling or in his business was called a haunt.
Often used figuratively.
The household nook,
The
The
haunt
of all affections pure. Keble.
The feeble soul, a
haunt
of fears. Tennyson.
2.
The habit of resorting to a place.
[Obs.]
The
haunt
you have got about the courts. Arbuthnot.
3.
Practice; skill.
[Obs.]
Of clothmaking she hadde such an
haunt
. Chaucer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Haunt
H`AUNT
, v.t.1.
To frequent; to resort to much or often, or to be much about; to visit customarily. Celestial Venus haunts Idalia's groves.
2.
To come to frequently; to intrude on; to trouble with frequent visits; to follow importunately. You wrong me, Sir, thus still to haunt my house.
Those cares that haunt the court and town.
3.
It is particularly applied to specters or apparitions, which are represented by fear and credulity as frequenting or inhabiting old, decayed and deserted houses. Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
H`AUNT
,Verb.
I.
I've charged thee not to haunt about my door.
H`AUNT
,Noun.
1.
The habit or custom of resorting to a place. [Not used.]2.
Custom; practice.Definition 2024
haunt
haunt
English
Alternative forms
- hant (Scotland)
Verb
haunt (third-person singular simple present haunts, present participle haunting, simple past and past participle haunted)
- (transitive) To inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
- A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
- Shakespeare
- You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house.
- Jonathan Swift
- those cares that haunt the court and town
- Fairfax
- Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
- (transitive) To make uneasy, restless.
- The memory of his past failures haunted him.
- (transitive) To stalk, to follow
- The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
- (intransitive, now rare) To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, John XI:
- Jesus therfore walked no more openly amonge 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.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.x:
- yonder in that wastefull wildernesse / Huge monsters haunt, and many dangers dwell […]
- 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, John XI:
- (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
- Wyclif
- Haunt thyself to pity.
- Wyclif
- (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To practise; to devote oneself to.
- Ascham
- Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
- Ascham
- (intransitive) To persist in staying or visiting.
- Shakespeare
- I've charged thee not to haunt about my doors.
- Shakespeare
Synonyms
- (to make uneasy): nag
Translations
to inhabit, or visit frequently
to make uneasy
|
|
to stalk
to live habitually
Noun
haunt (plural haunts)
- A place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.
- 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle:
- 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.
- 1868, Louisa May Alcott, "Kitty's Class Day":
- 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.
- 1984, Timothy Loughran and Natalie Angier, "Science: Striking It Rich in Wyoming," Time, 8 Oct.:
- 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.
-
- (dialect) A ghost.
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, page 93:
- ‘Harnts don't wander much ginerally,’ he said. ‘They hand round thar own buryin'-groun' mainly.’
- 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, page 93:
- A feeding place for animals.[2]
Translations
place at which one is regularly found
ghost — see ghost
feeding place for animals
|
References
- 1 2 Dictionary.com
- ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)