spook
spook / spo͞ok
noun 1. a ghost or phantom When the spooks have a midnight jamboree They break it up with fiendish glee Ghosts are bad, but the one that's cursed Is the Headless Horseman, he's the worst Lyrics from the song “The Headless Horseman” from the 1949 Disney movie “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” 2. a spy You don't need to be a spook to care about encryption. Barton Gellman, 1960 - verb 1. to frighten or make nervous Weddings have always spooked me. Brin-Jonathan Butler, 1979 - 2. to become frightened Journalism, spooked by rumors of its own obsolescence, has stopped believing in itself. Maureen Dowd, 1952 – 3. to haunt The ghosts go spooking one by one, the little one stops to have some fun. And they all go spooking out in the night, to cause a big fright. From “The Ghosts Go Spooking” by Chrissy Bozik, ? - etymology A Dutch word meaning "ghost," "spirit," or "apparition." Thank you to Allen Ward for providing this etymology.