spook

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”). Doublet of puck.

noun

1. (informal) A ghost or phantom.
   The building was haunted by a couple of spooks.
2. A hobgoblin.
3. (informal) A scare or fright.
   The big spider gave me a spook.
4. (espionage, slang) An undercover agent or spy.
   From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies? 24 July 2009, “Spies like them”, in BBC News Magazine
   The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks. Oct 13th 2012, “Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold”, in The Economist
5. (slang, dated, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.
   Some won't take spooks—hell, don't make no difference to me. 1976, Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver, spoken by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)
   […] Dryades Street and that whole uptown neighborhood is gonna be worth a fortune once the white people take it back from you spooks and develop it. […] 2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps, Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →OCLC, page 179
6. (philosophy) A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.
   He who is infatuated with Man leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook. 1845, Max Stirner, translated by Steven T. Byington, Der Einzige und sein Eigentum; republished as The Ego and His Own, Dover, 2005
7. (US, slang, medicine) A psychiatrist.
   Commonly, the surgeons view nonsurgeons with disdain. The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called. 1975, Robert O. Pasnau, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, page 124
8. (blackjack, slang) A player who engages in hole carding by attempting to glimpse the dealer's hole card when the dealer checks under an ace or a 10 to see if a blackjack is present.

verb

1. (transitive) To frighten or make nervous (especially by startling).
   The hunters were spooked when the black cat crossed their path. The movement in the bushes spooked the deer and they ran.
   As that was happening, an East Midlands train came through at 90mph. George [a Labrador] was spooked as the train went past him and ran backwards across the neighbouring slow lines and off towards the sidings. August 10 2022, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 963, page 71
2. (intransitive) To become frightened (by something startling).
   The deer spooked at the sound of the dogs.
3. (transitive) To haunt.