Haunt, v. i. To persist in staying
or visiting.
I've charged thee not to haunt about my
doors.
Shak.Haunt (hänt; 277), v. t.
[imp. & p. p. Haunted; p. pr. & vb.
n. 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.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.