ghostly

From Middle English gostly, gastlich, from Old English gāstlīċ (“spiritual, holy, clerical (not lay), ghastly, ghostly, spectral”), equivalent to ghost +‎ -ly. Cognate with Scots gostly, gastly, gaistlie (“spiritual, ghastly, terrifying”), West Frisian geastlik (“spiritual, clerical, religious”), Dutch geestelijk (“spiritual, clerical, ecclesiastical”), German geistlich (“spiritual, sacred, religious”), Danish geistlig (“ecclesiastical, clerical”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊstli/

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ghostly (comparative ghostlier, superlative ghostliest)

1. Of or pertaining to ghosts or spirits.

   a ghostly figure with a hood

   The graveyard was haunted by a ghostly figure of a young girl.

   The ghostly moaning was heard from upstairs.

2. Spooky; frightening.

   • A ghostly hush fell.

3. Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual.

   a ghostly confessor

   • Book of Common Prayer

     Save and defend us from our ghostly enemies.

   • Jeremy Taylor

     one of the ghostly children of St. Jerome

• See also Thesaurus:ghostly

• ghastly