Ghast

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To frighten or shock someone severely
2. To cause intense fear or dread in someone
3. To alarm or appall someone greatly

Etymology: "Ghast" is an old word for "to frighten" that has been revived as a poetic clipping. Its ancestor is Old English "gǣstan," meaning "to frighten, afflict, torment," which sits alongside "gāstan," meaning "to meditate." That pairing is a useful clue: the sense of terror and the sense of being absorbed in thought seem to come from the same root idea of being struck or seized, though the connection is not fully settled. Through Middle English "gasten," the word became "gast," which kept the sense of terrifying someone and also came to mean a frightened state of mind. In Middle English and later, "gast" existed as a variant of "ghost," and in the spelling "ghast" the influence of "ghost" is clearly visible, since the word was written with the "gh" that "ghost" uses. The word "ghastly" is the main source of the modern form. "Ghast" is a poetic abbreviation of "ghastly," and when used as a noun it has been reshaped by "ghost," which is why it now looks like a spelling of that more familiar word.

Synonyms: appall, horrify, shock

Antonyms: comfort, reassure