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Haunt vs Taut - What's the difference?

haunt | taut |

As a verb haunt

is to inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).

As a noun haunt

is a place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.

As an adjective taut is

tight; under tension, as in a rope or bow string.

haunt

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (Scotland)

Verb

(en verb)
  • To inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
    • A couple of ghosts haunt the old, burnt-down house.
  • * Shakespeare
    • You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • those cares that haunt the court and town
  • * Fairfax
    • Foul spirits haunt my resting place.
  • To make uneasy, restless.
    • The memory of his past failures haunted him.
  • To stalk, to follow
    • The policeman haunted him, following him everywhere.
  • To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , John XI:
    • Jesus therfore walked no more openly amonge the iewes: butt went his waye thence vnto a countre ny to a wildernes into a cite called effraym, and there haunted with his disciples.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.x:
    • yonder in that wastefull wildernesse / Huge monsters haunt , and many dangers dwell
  • To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
  • * Wyclif
    • Haunt thyself to pity.
  • To practise; to devote oneself to.
  • * Ascham
    • Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.
  • To persist in staying or visiting.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I've charged thee not to haunt about my doors.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A place at which one is regularly found; a hangout.
  • *
  • * 1868 , , "Kitty's Class Day":
    • Both Jack and Fletcher had graduated the year before, but still took an interest in their old haunts , and patronized the fellows who were not yet through.
  • * 1984 , Timothy Loughran and Natalie Angier, " Science: Striking It Rich in Wyoming," Time , 8 Oct.:
    • Wyoming has been a favorite haunt of paleontologists for the past century ever since westering pioneers reported that many vertebrate fossils were almost lying on the ground.
  • (dialect) A ghost.
  • * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country , Nebraska 2005, p. 93:
    • ‘Harnts don't wander much ginerally,’ he said. ‘They hand round thar own buryin'-groun' mainly.’
  • A feeding place for animals.Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989.

    • References

    Anagrams

    *

    taut

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (Scotland)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Tight; under tension, as in a rope or bow string.
  • * 1883:
    • The hawser was as taut as a bowstring - so strong she pulled upon her anchor.
  • Experiencing stress or anxiety.
  • * 1989 Faye Kellerman, The Quality of Mercy
    • His outward appearance was calm, but inside he was very taut .
  • Containing only relevant parts, brief and controlled.
  • * 2007 Milton C. Sernett, Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory and History
    • Quick action and dialogue create a taut story, although it is illustration that shapes the characters.

    Derived terms

    * tauten * tautly * tautness

    Synonyms

    tense ----