ghost

Meanings

Noun

• The spirit; the soul of man.
• The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death
• Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image.
• A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.
• An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.
• A ghostwriter.
• A nonexistent person invented to obtain some fraudulent benefit.
• A dead person whose identity is stolen by another. See ghosting.
• An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.
• An image of a file or hard disk.
• An understudy.
• A covert (and deniable) agent.
• The faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.
• An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times.
• Someone whose identity cannot be established because there are no records of him/her
• White or pale.
• Transparent or translucent.
• Abandoned.
• Remnant; the remains of a(n).
• Perceived or listed but not real.
• Of cryptid, supernatural or extraterrestrial nature.
• Substitute.
• A game in which players take turns to add a letter to a possible word, trying not to complete a word.

Verb

• To haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.
• To die; to expire.
• To imbue with a ghost-like hue or effect.
• To ghostwrite.
• To sail seemingly without wind.
• To copy a file or hard drive image.
• To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.
• To forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname.
• To appear or move without warning, quickly and quietly; to slip.
• To transfer (a prisoner) to another prison without the prior knowledge of other inmates.
• To kill.
• To perform an act of ghosting: to break up with someone without warning or explanation; to ignore someone, especially on social media.
• To provide the speaking or singing voice for another actor, who is lip-syncing.

Origin

• From Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst ("breath, soul, spirit, ghost, being"), from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz ("ghost, spirit"), from Proto-Indo-European, from *ǵʰéysd-. Cognate with Scots ghaist ("ghost"), Saterland Frisian Gäist ("spirit"), West Frisian geast ("spirit"), Dutch geest ("spirit, mind, ghost"), German Geist ("spirit, mind, intellect"), Swedish gast ("ghost"), Sanskrit हेड ("anger, hatred"), Persian زشت ("ugly, hateful, disgusting").