ghostly

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

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.
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.