What is the difference between spook and ghost?

spook | ghost |

Ghost is a synonym of spook.

In espionage terms the difference between spook and ghost

is that spook is a spy while ghost is a covert (and deniable) agent.

As nouns the difference between spook and ghost

is that spook is a spirit returning to haunt a place while ghost is the spirit; the soul of man.

As verbs the difference between spook and ghost

is that spook is to scare or frighten while ghost is to haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.

spook

English

Noun

(en noun)

A spirit returning to haunt a place.

The visit to the old cemetery brought scary visions of spooks and ghosts.

A ghost or an apparition.

The building was haunted by a couple of spooks .

A hobgoblin.

(espionage) A spy.

* 2009 , "Spies like them", BBC News Magazine (online), 24 July 2009:

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?

* 2012 , The Economist, Oct 13th 2012, Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold

The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks .

A scare or fright.

The big spider gave me a spook .

(dated, pejorative) A black person.

Synonyms

* See also

Verb

(en verb)

To scare or frighten.

To startle or frighten an animal

The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.

Derived terms

* spookiness * spookish * spook out * spooky

Anagrams

* ----

ghost

English

Alternative forms

* ghoast (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)

(rare) The spirit; the soul of man.

* Spenser

Then gives her grieved ghost thus to lament.

The disembodied soul; the soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death; an apparition; a specter.

Everyone showed that the ghost of an old lady haunted this crypt.

The mighty ghosts of our great Harries rose.

* Coleridge

I thought that I had died in sleep/And was a blessed ghost .

Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

Any faint shadowy semblance; an unsubstantial image; a phantom; a glimmering.

* Poe

Each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner

, title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}

A false image formed in a telescope, camera, or other optical device by reflection from the surfaces of one or more lenses.

An unwanted image similar to and overlapping or adjacent to the main one on a television screen, caused by the transmitted image being received both directly and via reflection.

A ghostwriter.

(Internet) An unresponsive user on IRC, resulting from the user's client disconnecting without notifying the server.

(computing) An image of a file or hard disk.

(theater) An understudy.

(espionage) A covert (and deniable) agent.

The faint image that remains after an attempt to remove graffiti.

* 1992 , Maurice J. Whitford, Getting Rid of Graffiti (page 45)

Regardless of GRM used, graffiti ghosts persist. Protect cladding with surface coating or replace with graffiti resistant paint or laminate.

(video games) An opponent in a racing game that follows a previously recorded route, allowing players to compete against previous best times.

* 2012 , Keith Burgun, Game Design Theory: A New Philosophy for Understanding Games

This is also the case for some racing games (Super Mario Kart is a good example) that allow you to compete against your ghosts , which are precise recordings of your performance.

(label)

(label) the of

(label) perceived or listed but not

(label) of nature

(label)

Synonyms

* (soul) soul, spirit * (spirit appearing after death) apparition, haint, phantom, revenant, specter/spectre, spook, wraith. * (faint shadowy semblance) glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, hint, inkling, spark, suggestion. * (false image in an optical device) * (false image on a television screen) : echo * (ghostwriter) ghostwriter * See also

Derived terms

* antighost * * ghost band * ghost bat * ghost bike * ghost catshark * ghost chili * ghost condensate * ghost crab * ghost dance * ghost detainee * ghosten * Ghost Festival * ghost flathead * ghost fleet * ghost frog * ghost fungus * ghost goal * ghost gum * ghost hunting * ghost imaging * ghost insect * ghost island * ghost knifefish * ghost light * ghost mark * ghost moth * ghost net * ghost note * ghost of a chance * ghost orchid * ghostly * ghost pepper * ghost ramp * ghost-riding * ghost runner * ghost ship * ghost shrimp * ghost sickness * ghost sign * ghost skate * ghost slug * ghost station * ghost story * ghost town * ghost train * ghost voting * ghost world * ghostwriter * give up the ghost * grey ghost * Holy Ghost

Verb

(en verb)

(obsolete) To haunt; to appear to in the form of an apparition.

* 1606 , , Act II, sc. 6, l. 1221

since Julius Caesar, / Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted

(obsolete) To die; to expire.

(Sir Philip Sidney)

(ambitransitive) To ghostwrite.

(nautical) To sail seemingly without wind.

(computing) To copy a file or hard drive image.

(GUI) To gray out (a visual item) to indicate that it is unavailable.

* 1991 , Amiga User Interface Style Guide (page 76)

Whenever a menu or menu item is inappropriate or unavailable for selection, it should be ghosted . Never allow the user to select something that does nothing in response.

(internet) To forcibly disconnect an IRC user who is using one's reserved nickname.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 24 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Arsenal came into the match under severe pressure and nerves were palpable early on as Pratley was brilliantly denied by Szczesny after ghosting in front of Kieran Gibbs}}

Anagrams

* (l), (l)