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haunt
VERB (tr):

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.

6. to intrude upon or recur to (the memory, thoughts, etc):
he was haunted by the fear of insanity.

7. to visit often; frequent: 
spends a lot of time haunting bookstores.

8. to continually seek the company of: 
haunting celebrities; impostors that haunt the official in foreign ports. —Van Wyck Brooks.

9. to have a disquieting or harmful effect on; trouble: 
problems we ignore now will come back to haunt us.

10. to recur constantly and spontaneously to: 
the tune haunted her.

11. to reappear continually in: 
a sense of tension that haunts his writing.

12. to visit or inhabit as a ghost: 
believed that the house was haunted; Spirits are supposed to haunt the places where their bodies most resorted … —Charles Dickens.

VERB (intr):

1. to reappear continually as a spirit or ghost.

2. to visit habitually or regularly.

3. to remain persistently; loiter; stay; linger.

4. to visit (a person or place) in the form of a ghost.

5. to visit (a place) frequently.

6. to associate with (someone) frequently.

7. to stay around or persist; linger: 
a haunting fragrance.

8. to appear habitually as a ghost:
not far from … where she haunted appeared for a short time a much more remarkable spirit. —W. B. Yeats.

Examples:

Some people believe that the ghost of an old sea captain haunts the beach; If you ignore the problem, it will come back to haunt you. —Merriam-Webster.

NOUN:

1. Often "haunts," a place frequently visited: 
to return to one's old haunts.

2. a place visited frequently:
an old haunt of hers.

3. a place to which animals habitually resort for food, drink, shelter, etc.

4. a place habitually frequented: 
a favorite haunt of college kids.

Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. and North England; chiefly dialectal: 

a ghost.

Synonyms:

(verb) affect, beset, frequent, habituate, hang (at), obsess, plague, resort (to), vex, visit.

(noun) hangout, purlieu, rendezvous, resort, stamping ground, stomping ground.

Related Words:

appall, annoy, bedevil, besiege, frighten, hangout, hound, inhabit, obsess, permeate, pervade, terrify, terrorize, torment, trouble, watering hole, weigh on, worry.

Antonyms: 

(verb) avoid, shun.

Origin:

1200–50; Middle English haunten<Old French hanter to frequent, probably <Old Norse heimta to lead home, derivative of heim homewards; see home. Dictionary 2: 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. —Dictionary.com. // 


First Known Use of haunt: Verb: 14th century. Noun: 14th century. History and Etymology for haunt: Verb: Middle English haunten, hanten "to frequent, frequent the company of, dwell in, engage in, practice (a vice or virtue), perform," borrowed from Anglo-French hanter (also continental Old French), of uncertain origin. [See note * ] Noun: Middle English haunt, hant "frequent visiting, resort, a place frequented, habitual practice of something, usage," borrowed from Anglo-French hant, haunt, derivative of hanter "to frequent, haunt entry 1". —Merriam-Webster.

Sources: 1, 2.

haunt
verb
noun
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