haunt Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a frequently visited place
    stamping ground; resort; hangout; repair.
  2. verb follow stealthily or recur constantly and spontaneously to
    stalk.
    • her ex-boyfriend stalked her
    • the ghost of her mother haunted her
  3. verb haunt like a ghost; pursue
    ghost; obsess.
    • Fear of illness haunts her
  4. verb be a regular or frequent visitor to a certain place
    frequent.
    • She haunts the ballet

WordNet

Haunt transitive verb
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).
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Haunted; present participle & verbal noun Haunting
Definitions
  1. To frequent; to resort to frequently; to visit pertinaciously or intrusively; to intrude upon.
    You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house. Shak.
    Those cares that haunt the court and town. Swift.
  2. To inhabit or frequent as a specter; to visit as a ghost or apparition.
    Foul spirits haunt my resting place. Fairfax.
  3. To practice; to devote one's self to. Obs.
    That other merchandise that men haunt with fraud . . . is cursed. Chaucer.
    Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime. Ascham.
  4. To accustom; to habituate. Obs.
    Haunt thyself to pity. Wyclif.
Haunt intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To persist in staying or visiting.
    I've charged thee not to haunt about my doors. Shak.
Haunt noun
Definitions
  1. A place to which one frequently resorts; as, drinking saloons are the haunts of tipplers; a den is the haunt of wild beasts. ✍ In Old English the place occupied by any one as a dwelling or in his business was called a haunt. Often used figuratively.
    The household nook, The haunt of all affections pure. Keble.
    The feeble soul, a haunt of fears. Tennyson.
  2. The habit of resorting to a place. Obs.
    The haunt you have got about the courts. Arbuthnot.
  3. Practice; skill. Obs.
    Of clothmaking she hadde such an haunt. Chaucer.

Webster 1913