An archaic or poetic word meaning to terrify, frighten, or fill with horror and dismay.
From Old English gǣstan or Middle English gasten, related to the Germanic root *gastiz meaning 'angry' or 'fierce.' The word is the root of 'aghast' and 'ghastly,' showing how it lost common usage but remained in compounds and related words.
Ghast is almost extinct in modern English, but it's hiding in plain sight in the word 'aghast'—when you say someone is 'aghast,' you're literally saying they're 'ghasted' with the prefix a- meaning 'in a state of.' Language archaeology!
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