Main Entry: ¹ghost

Pronunciation: \ˈgōst\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger

Date: before 12th century

1 : the seat of life or intelligence : soul <give up the ghost>
2 : a disembodied soul; especially : the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness
3 : spirit, demon
4 a : a faint shadowy trace <a ghost of a smile> b : the least bit <not a ghost of a chance>
5 : a false image in a photographic negative or on a television screen caused especially by reflection
6 : one who ghostwrites
7 : a red blood cell that has lost its hemoglobin

— ghost·like \-ˌlīk\ adjective

— ghosty \ˈgō-stē\ adjective