different between haunt vs plague

English

Alternative forms

• hant (Scotland), haint (US, dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English haunten (“to reside, inhabit, use, employ”), from Old French hanter (“to inhabit, frequent, resort to”), from Old Northern French hanter (“to go back home, frequent”), from Old Norse heimta (“to bring home, fetch”) or/and from Old English h?mettan (“to bring home; house; cohabit with”); both from Proto-Germanic *haimatjan? (“to house, bring home”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz (“village, home”), from Proto-Indo-European *k?ym- (“village”).

Cognate with Old English h?mettan (“to provide housing to, bring home”); related to Old English h?m (“home, village”), Old French hantin (“a stay, a place frequented by”) from the same Germanic source. Another descendant from the French is Dutch hanteren, whence German hantieren, Swedish hantera, Danish håndtere. More at home.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hônt, IPA^(key): /h??nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt
• (some accents) enPR: hänt, IPA^(key): /h??nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt
• (some accents for noun definition #2) enPR: h?nt, IPA^(key): /hænt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Verb

haunt (third-person singular simple present haunts, present participle haunting, simple past and past participle haunted)

1. (transitive) To inhabit, or visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts).
   • Foul spirits haunt my resting place.

   • 1713, Jonathan Swift, Imitation of Horace, Book I. Ep. VII.

     those cares that haunt the court and town

2. (transitive) To make uneasy, restless.

3. (transitive) To stalk, to follow

4. (intransitive, now rare) To live habitually; to stay, to remain.
5. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To accustom; habituate; make accustomed to.
6. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To practise; to devote oneself to.
   • 1570, Roger Ascham, The School master

     Leave honest pleasure, and haunt no good pastime.

7. (intransitive) To persist in staying or visiting.

Synonyms

• (to make uneasy): nag
• (to live habitually): live, dwell; See also Thesaurus:reside

Translations

Noun

haunt (plural haunts)

1. A place at which one is regularly found; a habitation or hangout.
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, "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.
2. (dialect) A ghost.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, page 93:

     ‘Harnts don't wander much ginerally,’ he said. ‘They hand round thar own buryin'-groun' mainly.’

3. A feeding place for animals.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Utahn, unhat

English

Etymology

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin pl?ga (“blow, wound”), from plang? (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch pl?ghe (> Dutch plaag), pl?ghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German pl?ge; Middle High German pl?ge, pfl?ge (> German Plage); pl?gen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English w?l.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pl?g, IPA^(key): /ple??/, [p?l?e??]
• Rhymes: -e??

Noun

plague (countable and uncountable, plural plagues)

1. (often used with the, sometimes capitalized: the Plague) The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
2. (pathology) An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but specifically by the above disease.
3. A widespread affliction, calamity or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
4. (figuratively) A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates.

5. Collective noun for common grackles

Synonyms

• pest, pestilence

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

plague (third-person singular simple present plagues, present participle plaguing, simple past and past participle plagued)

1. (transitive) To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.
2. (transitive) To afflict with a disease or other calamity.

Derived terms

• plagued
• plaguer

Translations

Spanish

Verb

plague

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of plagar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of plagar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of plagar.