Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GHOST (a word common to the W. Teuton...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 925 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

GHOST (a word See also:common to the W. See also:Teutonic See also:languages; O.E. vest, Dutch, 'geest, Ger. Geist)  , in the sense now prevailing, the spirit of a dead See also:person considered as appearing in some visible or sensible See also:form to the living (see See also:APPARITIONS; PSYCHICAL See also:RESEARCH, "Phantasms of the Dead"; See also:SPIRITUALISM) . In the earlier and wider sense of spirit in See also:general, or of the principle of See also:life, the word is practically obsolete . The See also:language of the Authorized Version of the See also:Bible, however, has preserved the phrase " to give up the See also:ghost, still sometimes used of dying . The Spirit of See also:God, too, the third person of the Trinity, is still called, not in the technical language of See also:theology only, the See also:Holy Ghost . The See also:adjective " ghostly " is still occasionally used for " spiritual " (cf. the Ger. geistlich) as contrasted with " bodily," especially in such combinations as " ghostly counsel," " ghostly comfort." We may even speak of a " ghostly adviser," though not without a See also:touch of affectation; on the other See also:hand, the phrase " ghostly See also:man " for a clergyman (cf. the Ger . Geistlicher) is an archaism the use of which could only be justified by poetic See also:licence, as in See also:Tennyson's Elaine (1(394) . The word " ghost," from the shadowy and unsubstantial quality attributed to the apparitions of the dead, has come also to be commonly used to emphasize the want of force or substance generally, in such phrases as " not the ghost of a See also:chance," " not the ghost of an See also:idea." It is also applied to those See also:literary and See also:artistic " hacks " who are paid to do See also:work for which others get the See also:credit .

End of Article: GHOST (a word common to the W. Teutonic languages; O.E. vest, Dutch, 'geest, Ger. Geist)
[back]
GHOR, or GHUR
[next]
GHOST DANCE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.