haunt

Everyday

1. In stories, a ghost haunts a place or person when it appears there again and again. tree →
2. If a memory or worry haunts you, you keep thinking about it and it upsets you. tree →
3. To haunt a place means to go there very often. tree →
4. (noun) A haunt is a place someone visits often, like a favourite café. tree →

In the lessons

In stories and Halloween, haunted houses and castles are full of ghosts. In everyday life and stories, a bad mistake can «come back to haunt you». A «favourite haunt» is a place you love to go. Ghosts are not proven to be real; haunted-house tales are for fun and spooky stories. Phrases: «haunted house», «come back to haunt», «favourite haunt».

Examples

• They say a ghost haunts the old castle. tree →
• We went to a haunted house at the fair. tree →
• The sad song haunted me for days. tree →
• That silly mistake came back to haunt him. tree →
• The park is our favourite haunt after school. tree →
• Pirates once haunted these seas. tree →
• The memory of the storm still haunts her. tree →

Note

Regular verb: haunted (also an adjective: «a haunted house»). Pronounced «hawnt». Adjective: haunting (beautiful and sad, staying in your mind: «a haunting tune»). Science has found no evidence that ghosts exist; creaks and cold spots usually have ordinary causes.

In Jewish tradition

Here it means a place where a person often goes, not a ghost. In the primary lessons: In stories and Halloween, haunted houses and castles are full of ghosts. In everyday life and stories, a bad mistake can «come back to haunt you». A «favourite haunt» is a place you love to go. Ghosts are not proven to be real; haunted-house tales are for fun and spooky stories. Phrases: «haunted house», «come back to haunt», «favourite haunt».

Examples

• and to them that were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were wont to haunt. (Prophets 1SA.30.31, JPS 1917) tree →
• Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there; for it is told me that he dealeth very subtly. (Prophets 1SA.23.22, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Regular verb: haunted (also an adjective: «a haunted house»). Pronounced «hawnt». Adjective: haunting (beautiful and sad, staying in your mind: «a haunting tune»). Science has found no evidence that ghosts exist; creaks and cold spots usually have ordinary causes.