haunt

[hawnt, hahnt; for 10 also hant] /hɔnt, hɑnt; for 10 also hænt/
verb (used with object)
1.
to visit habitually or appear to frequently as a spirit or ghost:
to haunt a house; to haunt a person.
2.
to recur persistently to the consciousness of; remain with:
Memories of love haunted him.
3.
to visit frequently; go to often:
He haunted the galleries and bars that the artists went to.
4.
to frequent the company of; be often with:
He haunted famous men, hoping to gain celebrity for himself.
5.
to disturb or distress; cause to have anxiety; trouble; worry:
His youthful escapades came back to haunt him.
verb (used without object)
6.
to reappear continually as a spirit or ghost.
7.
to visit habitually or regularly.
8.
to remain persistently; loiter; stay; linger.
noun
9.
Often, haunts. a place frequently visited:
to return to one's old haunts.
10.
Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. and North England. a ghost.
Origin
1200-50; Middle English haunten < Old French hanter to frequent, probably < Old Norse heimta to lead home, derivative of heim homewards; see home
Related forms
haunter, noun
Synonyms
3. frequent. 5. obsess, beset, vex, plague.
Examples from the web for haunt
  • Your words will become official pronouncements that can come back to haunt you.
  • And, despite much talk of reform and transparency, they still haunt the commercial world.
  • Similar subconscious memories may haunt recovering addicts.
  • haunt your enemies' rice paddies, then eat their skulls.
  • Such disputes could come back to haunt you at tenure-review time.
  • But his scrupulousness-if that is what it is-may return to haunt him.
  • Locals haunt the museums during those select times when there are no admittance fees.
  • The concern is that viruses and retroviruses will survive this cycle and come back to haunt us.
  • The site has become a popular weekend haunt for day trippers willing to squeeze through fences and scale rickety scaffolds.
  • These are the memories that haunt you during phone interviews.
British Dictionary definitions for haunt

haunt

/hɔːnt/
verb
1.
to visit (a person or place) in the form of a ghost
2.
(transitive) to intrude upon or recur to (the memory, thoughts, etc): he was haunted by the fear of insanity
3.
to visit (a place) frequently
4.
to associate with (someone) frequently
noun
5.
(often pl) a place visited frequently: an old haunt of hers
6.
a place to which animals habitually resort for food, drink, shelter, etc
Derived Forms
haunter, noun
Word Origin
C13: from Old French hanter, of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse heimta to bring home, Old English hāmettan to give a home to; see home
Word Origin and History for haunt
v.

early 13c., "to practice habitually, busy oneself with, take part in," from Old French hanter "to frequent, resort to, be familiar with" (12c.), probably from Old Norse heimta "bring home," from Proto-Germanic *haimat-janan, from *haimaz- (see home). Meaning "to frequent (a place)" is c.1300 in English. Use in reference to a spirit returning to the house where it had lived perhaps was in Proto-Germanic, but it was reinforced by Shakespeare's plays, and it is first recorded 1590 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Related: Haunted; haunting. Middle English hauntingly meant "frequently;" sense of "so as to haunt one's thoughts or memory" is from 1859.

n.

"place frequently visited," c.1300, also in Middle English, "habit, custom" (early 14c.), from haunt (v.). The meaning "spirit that haunts a place, ghost" is first recorded 1843, originally in stereotypical U.S. black speech.