Haunt Haunting.] [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.]

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Haunt, v. i.

To persist in staying or visiting.

I've charged thee not to haunt about my doors.
Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.


Haunt, n.

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.