haunt · noun — A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout. It carries an Arena rating of 1910, earned across 37 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, haunt ranks #79 of 17,144 for Most Malleable Words, #338 of 17,134 for Most Elegant Words, #909 of 17,150 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,210 of 17,142 for Scariest Words.
haunt is pronounced /hɔːnt/.
Why “haunt” is a great word
To visit a place or a mind with unshakeable persistence, as a ghost lingers or a favored locale receives its familiar visitor. From Middle English *haunten*, from Old French *hanter*, likely from Old Norse *heimta* ('to bring home') and Old English *hāmettan* ('to bring home, house'), both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjaną* ('to house, bring home'), from *haimaz* ('home, village'); first attested as a verb c. 1300 and as a noun c. 1330. Unlike *dwell*, which implies settled residence, or *visit*, which is casual and finite, to haunt is to return without rest, a cyclical claim upon a space. It is the chill spot on the stair no fire can warm, the melody that surfaces unbidden years later, the way a certain barstool holds your silhouette long after you've gone—the indelible claim the past makes on the geography of the present, a presence refusing to be rehoused.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
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.
noun
- A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.e.g.“The shopping mall is a popular haunt of the local teenagers in this town.”
- A ghost.
- A lair or feeding place of animals.
verb
- To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).e.g.“A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.”
- To make uneasy, restless.e.g.“The memory of his past failures haunted him.”
- To stalk; to follow.e.g.“The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.”
- To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
- To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.e.g.“[…]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].” — c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, I. Timot
- To practise; to devote oneself to.e.g.“Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.” — a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] Jo
- To persist in staying or visiting.e.g.“I haue charg’d thee not to haunt about my doores:[…]” — c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iagg
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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