spook

n.

1. Informal. A ghost; a specter.
2. Slang. A secret agent; a spy.
3. Offensive Slang. Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.

v. Informal., spooked, spook·ing, spooks.

v.tr.

1. To haunt.
2. To startle and cause nervous activity in; frighten: The news spooked investors, and stock prices fell.

v.intr.

To become frightened and nervous.

[Dutch, from Middle Dutch spooc.]

noun

1. A supernatural being, such as a ghost: apparition, bogey, bogeyman, bogle, eidolon, ghost, phantasm, phantasma, phantom, revenant, shade, shadow, specter, spirit, visitant, wraith. Regional haunt. See beings, supernatural.
2. A person who secretly observes others to obtain information: agent, operative, spy. Idioms: secretundercoveragent. See investigate.

Origin: 1801

Ghosts have abounded in folklore and literature for centuries, but the English language was not troubled by spooks until we imported them from our Dutch or German neighbors at the start of the nineteenth century. We find the noun spook in an American poem with a Dutch or German accent, printed in the Massachusetts Spy for July 15, 1801:

As a verb, too, spook was an American innovation, also making its appearance in a poem. This is from James Russell Lowell's "Fitz Adam's Story" (1867): "Yet still the New World spooked it in his veins, A ghost who could not lay with all his pains."

Thanks to spook, a host of related specters haunt our language now. We felt spooky as long ago as 1854. In the twentieth century, we speak of spooking animals, putting them in a state of mind to panic or stampede. During World War II Americans began using spook as slang for "spy." After the war, spooky was used by surfers to label a large dangerous wave.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - spøgelse, spion, agent
v. tr. - spionere, spøge
v. intr. - blive skræmt, agere spøgelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
laten schrikken, spook, spion

Français (French)
n. - fantôme, (US) barbouze, espion, (US) nègre (injur)
v. tr. - effrayer, donner la frousse à, hanter
v. intr. - hanter, avoir peur

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gespenst, (ugs.) Spion
v. - erschrecken, spuken

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - στοιχειό, φάντασμα, (καθομ.) πράκτορας μυστικής υπηρεσίας, ψυχίατρος
v. - τρομάζω, κοψοχολιάζω, φοβάμαι, σκιάζομαι, (καθομ.) εξαπατώ

Italiano (Italian)
spia, spavento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fantasma (m)
v. - assustar

Русский (Russian)
привидение, писатель-невидимка (пишущий за других), составитель (чужих) речей, шофер-лихач, наркоман, являться, бродить (о призраке), пугать, разбегаться в ужасе, писать (за кого-л.)

Español (Spanish)
n. - espía, fantasma, aparición
v. tr. - asustar
v. intr. - asustarse

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - spöke, konstig kropp, spion
v. - skoja med, lura naja

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
幽灵, 间谍, 情报员, 黑人, 鬼怪般地出没于, 惊吓, 逃窜

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 幽靈, 間諜, 情報員, 黑人
v. tr. - 鬼怪般地出沒於, 驚嚇
v. intr. - 逃竄

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 유령, 도깨비, 비밀 탐정
v. tr. - (유령같이) 나타나다, 섬뜩하게 하다, 위협을 주다
v. intr. - 놀라 달아나다, 무서워서 떨다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 幽霊
v. - びっくりさせる, 出る

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شبح, طيف, جاسوس, (فعل) يفزع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רוח-רפאים, שד, מרגל (עגה, ארה"ב)‬
v. tr. - ‮הפחיד, הבהיל‬
v. intr. - ‮נבהל, נתקף אימה‬

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