Definition of Ghost word

1. Noun. A word form that has entered the language through the perpetuation of an error.

Generic synonyms: Descriptor, Form, Signifier, Word Form

Definition of Ghost word

1. Noun. A fictitious or erroneous word, originally meaningless, that has been published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference book, or has been listed as genuine, generally as the result of misinterpretation or a typographical error. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ghost Word

ghost piece
ghost pieces
ghost post
ghost prisoner
ghost prisoners
ghost rocket
ghost ship
ghost ships
ghost stories
ghost story
ghost tooth
ghost town
ghost towns
ghost train
ghost weed
ghost word (current term)
ghost words
ghost writer
ghost writers
ghostball
ghostbuster
ghostbusters
ghostbusting
ghosted
ghostfish
ghostfishes
ghosthunter
ghosthunters
ghosthunting

Literary usage of Ghost word

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Study of Hamlet by John Conolly (1863)
"He exclaims that he will " take the ghost's word for a thousand pound," just as recklessly as he had said " It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you. ..."

2. Transactions of the Philological Society by Philological Society (Great Britain). (1887)
"This mysterious ghost-word turned out to be merely the past participle ... I must add one more example of a ghost-word which I think carries off the prize. ..."

3. The Panchatantra: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Tales in the Recension by Pūrṇabhadrasūri, Johannes Hertel (1908)
"As a Sanskrit ghost- word we may cite ... conversation,' which Apte gives in its place,1 seems to be another ghost-word begotten by the ghost-word ..."

4. The Panchatantra: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Tales in the Recension by Pūrṇabhadrasūri, Johannes Hertel (1908)
"As a Sanskrit ghost- word we may cite ... conversation,' which Apte gives in its place,1 seems to be another ghost-word begotten by the ghost-word ..."

5. Notes and Queries by Martim de Albuquerque (1901)
"206), calls a ghost-word, the record of a blunder, a singular coined from a plural. The Portuguese singular is pinhao. ..."

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