haunting

Verb

haunt (third-person singular simple present haunts, present participle haunting, simple past and past participle haunted)

1. (transitive) To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
   • A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
2. (transitive) To make uneasy, restless.
   • The memory of his past failures haunted him.

   Synonyms:

   nag

3. (transitive) To stalk; to follow.
   • The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
4. (archaic, intransitive) To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
   • Ieſus therfore walked no more openly amõge the iewes : butt went his waye thence vnto a countre ny to a wildernes into a cite called effraym / and there haunted with his diſciples.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, John xj:[54], folio cxxxviij, verso

   Synonyms:

   live

5. (Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive) To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
   • […]haunte thi silf to pite [or pitee].c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I (in Middle English), Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, I....
6. (Northern England, Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive) To practise; to devote oneself to.
   • Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […]...

See all 10 meanings of haunt