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Spook

//spuːk// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A ghost or phantom. informal

    "The building was haunted by a couple of spooks."

  2. 2
    a mental representation of some haunting experience wordnet
  3. 3
    A hobgoblin.
  4. 4
    someone unpleasantly strange or eccentric wordnet
  5. 5
    A scare or fright. informal

    "The big spider gave me a spook."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst. slang

    "From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?"

  2. 7
    A black person. dated, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur

    "Some won't take spooks—hell, don't make no difference to me."

  3. 8
    A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.

    "He who is infatuated with Man leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook."

  4. 9
    A psychiatrist. US, slang

    "Commonly, the surgeons view nonsurgeons with disdain. The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called."

  5. 10
    A player who engages in hole carding by attempting to glimpse the dealer's hole card when the dealer checks under an ace or a 10 to see if a blackjack is present. slang
Verb
  1. 1
    To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling). transitive

    "The hunters were spooked when the black cat crossed their path. The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran."

  2. 2
    frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action wordnet
  3. 3
    To become frightened (by something startling). intransitive

    "The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs."

  4. 4
    To haunt. transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

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