Definition of HAUNT

haunt

Plural: haunts

Noun

  • a frequently visited place
  • A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.
  • A ghost.
  • A lair or feeding place of animals.

Verb

Verb Forms: haunted, haunting, haunts

  • To frequent a place; to recur persistently to one's mind.
  • follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to
    • "the ghost of her mother haunted her"
  • haunt like a ghost; pursue
    • "Fear of illness haunts her"
  • be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place
    • "She haunts the ballet"
  • To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
  • To make uneasy, restless.
  • To stalk; to follow.
  • To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
  • To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
  • To practise; to devote oneself to.
  • To persist in staying or visiting.

Examples

  • A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
  • I went back the town I used to live and visited all my old haunts.
  • The ghost of a missed triple-word score will HAUNT a Scrabble player for ages.
  • The memory of his past failures haunted him.
  • The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
  • The shopping mall is a popular haunt of the local teenagers in this town.

Origin / Etymology

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, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.

Synonyms

frequent, ghost, hangout, obsess, repair, resort, stalk, stamping ground, dwell, haint, live, nag

Scrabble Score: 8

haunt: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
haunt: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
haunt: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

haunt: valid Words With Friends Word