ghostly

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   resembling or characteristic of a phantom

   a ghostly face at the window

2. 2
   adj

   Of or pertaining to ghosts or spirits.

   a ghostly figure with a hood

3. 3
   adj

   Spooky; frightening.

   A ghostly hush fell.

4. 4
   adj

   Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual.

   a ghostly confessor

Etymology

From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistalīk (“spiritual”), equivalent to ghost + -ly. Cognate with Scots ghaistly, gaistly (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).