Definitions for haunt
hɔnt, hɑnt; for 10 also hænthaunt

Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. haunt, hangout, resort, repair, stamping groundverb

   a frequently visited place

2. haunt, stalkverb

   follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to

   "her ex-boyfriend stalked her"; "the ghost of her mother haunted her"

3. haunt, obsess, ghostverb

   haunt like a ghost; pursue

   "Fear of illness haunts her"

4. frequent, hauntverb

   be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place

   "She haunts the ballet"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. hauntnoun

   A place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.

2. hauntnoun

   A ghost.

3. hauntnoun

   A feeding place for animals.

4. hauntverb

   To inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).

5. hauntverb

   To make uneasy.

   The memory of his past failures haunted him.

6. hauntverb

   To stalk, to follow

   The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.

7. hauntverb

   To live habitually; to stay, to remain.

8. Etymology: From haunten, from hanter, of origin, probably through *, from haimatjanan, from haimaz, from kōim-. Cognate with hamettan, heimta, ham, hantin from the same source. More at home.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hauntnoun

   Etymology: from the verb.

   1. Place in which one is frequently found.

   We set toils, nets, gins, snares and traps for beasts and birds in their own haunts and walks, and without any seal of faith and confidence. Roger L'Estrange.

   To me pertains not, she replies,
   To know or care where Cupid flies;
   What are his haunts, or which his way,
   Where he would dwell, or whither stray. Matthew Prior.

   A scene where, if a god should cast his sight,
   A god might gaze and wonder with delight!
   Joy touch’d the messenger of heav’n; he stay’d
   Entranc’d, and all the blissful haunt survey’d. Alexander Pope, Odyss.

   2. Habit of being in a certain place.

   The haunt you have got about the courts will one day or another bring your family to beggary. John Arbuthnot, John Bull.

2. To HAUNTverb

   Etymology: hanter, French.

   1. To frequent; to be much about any place or person.

   A man who for his hospitality is so much haunted, that no news stir but come to his ears. Philip Sidney.

   Now we being brought known unto her, the time that we spent in curing some very dangerous wounds, after once we were acquainted, and acquainted we were sooner than ourselves expected, she continually almost haunted us. Philip Sidney.

   I do haunt thee in the battle thus,
   Because some tell me that thou art a king. William Shakespeare, Hen. IV.

   She this dang’rous forest haunts,
   And in sad accents utters her complaints. Edmund Waller.

   Earth now
   Secur’d like to heav’n, a seat where gods might dwell,
   Or wander with delight, and love to haunt
   Her sacred shades. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. vii.

   Celestial Venus haunts Idalia’s groves;
   Diana Cynthus, Ceres Hybla loves. Alexander Pope, Spring.

   2. It is used frequently in an ill sense of one that comes unwelcome.

   You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house;
   I told you, sir, my daughter is dispos’d of. William Shakespeare.

   Oh, could I see my country-seat!
   There leaning near a gentle brook,
   Sleep, or peruse some ancient book;
   And there in sweet oblivion drown
   Those cares that haunt the court and town. Jonathan Swift.

   3. It is eminently used of apparitions or spectres that appear in a particular place.

   Foul spirits haunt my resting place,
   And ghastly visions break my sleep by night. Edward Fairfax.

   All these the woes of Oedipus have known,
   Your fates, your furies, and your haunted town. Alexander Pope.

3. To Hauntverb

   To be much about; to appear frequently.

   I’ve charged thee not to haunt about my doors:
   In honest plainness thou hast heard me say,
   My daughter’s not for thee. William Shakespeare, Othello.

   Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ’d
   The air is delicate William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Hauntverb

   to frequent; to resort to frequently; to visit pertinaciously or intrusively; to intrude upon

2. Hauntverb

   to inhabit or frequent as a specter; to visit as a ghost or apparition

3. Hauntverb

   to practice; to devote one's self to

4. Hauntverb

   to accustom; to habituate

5. Hauntverb

   to persist in staying or visiting

6. Hauntnoun

   a place to which one frequently resorts; as, drinking saloons are the haunts of tipplers; a den is the haunt of wild beasts

7. Hauntnoun

   the habit of resorting to a place

8. Hauntnoun

   practice; skill

9. Etymology: [F. hanter; of uncertain origin, perh. from an assumed LL. ambitare to go about, fr. L. ambire (see Ambition); or cf. Icel. heimta to demand, regain, akin to heim home (see Home). 36.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Haunt

   hawnt, v.t. to frequent: to follow importunately: to intrude upon continually: to inhabit or visit as a ghost.—v.i. to be much about: to appear or visit frequently.—n. a place much resorted to: (Shak.) habit of frequenting.—p.adj Haunt′ed, frequented, infested, esp. by ghosts or apparitions.—n. Haunt′er.—adv. Haunt′ingly. [O. Fr. hanter; acc. to Littré, a corr. of L. habitāre.]

Matched Categories

1. • Preoccupy
   • Pursue
   • Travel To

Anagrams for haunt »

1. Utahn

2. thuan

3. unhat

4. ahunt

How to pronounce haunt?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say haunt in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of haunt in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of haunt in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of haunt in a Sentence

1. Karen Finney:

   In terms of appeal in a general election, there are comments he has made that can come back to haunt him.

2. Dan Gainor:

   The hot mic is just one more tool the media use to protect their friends and target their enemies, nBC worked with Donald Trump for 11 years. There were no news stories about Trump's off-color and crude comments. It did everything it could to protect him -- both in news and entertainment. He, and indirectly Billy Bush, became targets because he ran a political campaign wildly opposed by network reporters, producers and anchors … If you are liberal, it won't likely impact you for long. If you are to the right of the media covering the story, it will haunt you forever.

3. David Clark:

   When I am in the United States, the Vietnam War does haunt me every day and every night but when I am in Vietnam I don’t see no flares, no helicopters no tracers no bombs, the American war has been over 50 years so I myself find peace in Vietnam.

4. Daniel J. Boorstin:

   Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image. It was the land of the unexpected, of unbounded hope, of ideals, of quest for an unknown perfection. It is all the more unfitting that we should offer ourselves in images. And all the more fitting that the images which we make wittingly or unwittingly to sell America to the world should come back to haunt and curse us.

5. William Cowper:

   He that holds fast the golden mean, And lives contentedly between The little and the great, Feels not the want that pinch the poor, Nor plagues that haunt the rich man's door.

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