spook
/spuːk
/informal
noun
1A ghost.Judge Steve Evans takes on these unspooky spooks and non-existent ghosts - and he doesn't mind one bit....
- In their flower-powered custom van, the Mystery Machine, this teenage detective agency prowls the countryside in search of suspicious spooks and phony phantoms.
- The Ghosts Of Pac-Man asks a number of searching questions about the blamanche-like spooks in the early eighties video arcade game.
2chiefly North American A spy: a CIA spook...
- Burke hooks Clayton in by suggesting that his father, who died under mysterious circumstances 10 years earlier, may actually have been a CIA spook as well.
- ‘Nobody ever heard of paying spooks until we began the practice,’ said ancient Abraham, cackling wheezily.
- The recent string of intelligence failures has provoked calls for creating a Director of National Intelligence who would have broad oversight over all spooks.
3US offensive, dated A black person.
verb [with object]
1Frighten; unnerve: they spooked a couple of grizzly bears...
- Today business buyers are spooked by luxury deals, since it's tough to predict how far this downturn will go.
- Her cell phone goes off and spooks Stevie's steed.
- Though not particularly large, they were barking wildly and getting under their hooves with enthusiasm, spooking all the horses.
1.1 [no object] (Especially of an animal) take fright suddenly: he’ll spook if we make any noise...
- A minute later, her horse spooked and Kaz spooked along with her.
- Perhaps at an even slower pace, with more stunning images and settings, this movie would really spook.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Dutch, of unknown origin.