haunt

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   (of a ghost) To appear repeatedly in a place.

   People say a ghost haunts the old castle.

2. 2
   verb

   To keep coming back into someone's mind in a troubling way.

   The memory of the accident haunted him for years.

3. 3
   verb

   To visit a place often.

   He haunts the second-hand bookshops looking for rare editions.

From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English hāmettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóymos (“village”). Cognate with Old English hǣman (“to cohabit, lie with, marry”); related to Old English hām (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
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