- ghost
- [[t]go͟ʊst[/t]]
ghosts, ghosting, ghosted1) N-COUNT: oft N of n A ghost is the spirit of a dead person that someone believes they can see or feel.
...the ghost of Marie Antoinette...
The village is haunted by the ghosts of the dead children.
2) N-COUNT: N of n The ghost of something, especially of something bad that has happened, is the memory of it.The President is using the two visits to lay the ghosts of the Munich Agreement.
...the ghost of anti-Americanism.
3) N-SING: N of n If there is a ghost of something, that thing is so faint or weak that it hardly exists.He gave the ghost of a smile...
The sun was warm and there was just a ghost of a breeze from the north-west.
4) VERB If a book or other piece of writing is ghosted, it is written by a writer for another person, for example a politician or sportsman, who then publishes it as his or her own work.[be V-ed] I published his autobiography, which was very competently ghosted by a woman journalist from the Daily Mail...
[V n] I ghosted his weekly rugby column for the Telegraph.
Syn:5) PHRASE: v PHR, with neg If someone does not stand or does not have a ghost of a chance of doing something, they have very little chance of succeeding in it. [INFORMAL]He doesn't stand a ghost of a chance of selling the house.
6) PHRASE: V inflects If someone gives up the ghost, they stop trying to do something because they no longer believe they can do it successfully. If a machine gives up the ghost, it stops working. [INFORMAL]Some firms give up the ghost before they find what they are looking for...
The battery in my car gave up the ghost.
Syn:
English dictionary. 2008.
