"errand-ghost" meaning in English

See errand-ghost in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: errand-ghosts [plural], errand ghost [alternative]
Etymology: From errand + ghost, a modern calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”). Etymology templates: {{com|en|errand|ghost}} errand + ghost, {{calque|en|ang|ǣrendgāst|nocap=1|t=spiritual messenger, angel}} calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} errand-ghost (plural errand-ghosts), {{tlb|en|rare|puristic}} (rare, puristic)
  1. A spirit or spiritual messenger; an angel.
    Sense id: en-errand-ghost-en-noun-b7KtIT3O
  2. (by extension) Any spirit or ghostly messenger. Tags: broadly
    Sense id: en-errand-ghost-en-noun--51qIxuH Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 63 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 23 77 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 11 89

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "errand",
        "3": "ghost"
      },
      "expansion": "errand + ghost",
      "name": "com"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ǣrendgāst",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "spiritual messenger, angel"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From errand + ghost, a modern calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "errand-ghosts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "errand ghost",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "errand-ghost (plural errand-ghosts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rare",
        "3": "puristic"
      },
      "expansion": "(rare, puristic)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              145,
              157
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1900, Eleanor Vere Boyle, Seven gardens and a palace:",
          "text": "Their simple directness of character may account for the well-nigh entire absence (as I said before) of all expression of religious hope. \"God's Errand-Ghost,\" the Rider on the Pale Horse, has passed by that way, and one in the house — it may be the most loved of all, — is dead. There is no shirking of that bare truth, no attempt to soften it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Letters To the Ghost In My House",
          "text": "If that was really insulting, please don't be offended. I certainly don't think of you as my errand-ghost. Actually, I think of you as my friend."
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              79,
              91
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Yahoo! Canada Answers, Is Jesus God? Did Jesus ever claim to be God?:",
          "text": "If Jesus were not God, He would have told lede to not worship Him, just as the errand-ghost in Bring to Lightings did.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spirit or spiritual messenger; an angel."
      ],
      "id": "en-errand-ghost-en-noun-b7KtIT3O",
      "links": [
        [
          "spirit",
          "spirit"
        ],
        [
          "spiritual",
          "spiritual"
        ],
        [
          "messenger",
          "messenger"
        ],
        [
          "angel",
          "angel"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "37 63",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 77",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "11 89",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              176,
              188
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, C. Jürschik y P. García, Interview with Jonathan Boakes:",
          "text": "In regard of the previous question – do you also choose empty localizations deliberately? Is this to strengthen the fright for loneliness and silence, the same fright that the errand ghost of those haunted places feels?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              72
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Hugo Santander, Poems on America, the world, life and death:",
          "text": "Death is not unknown to him, but she has perished / And her errand ghost wanders through the night.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any spirit or ghostly messenger."
      ],
      "id": "en-errand-ghost-en-noun--51qIxuH",
      "links": [
        [
          "ghostly",
          "ghostly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Any spirit or ghostly messenger."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "errand-ghost"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English puristic terms",
    "English rare terms",
    "English terms calqued from Old English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "errand",
        "3": "ghost"
      },
      "expansion": "errand + ghost",
      "name": "com"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "ǣrendgāst",
        "nocap": "1",
        "t": "spiritual messenger, angel"
      },
      "expansion": "calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”)",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From errand + ghost, a modern calque of Old English ǣrendgāst (“spiritual messenger, angel”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "errand-ghosts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "errand ghost",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "errand-ghost (plural errand-ghosts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rare",
        "3": "puristic"
      },
      "expansion": "(rare, puristic)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              145,
              157
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1900, Eleanor Vere Boyle, Seven gardens and a palace:",
          "text": "Their simple directness of character may account for the well-nigh entire absence (as I said before) of all expression of religious hope. \"God's Errand-Ghost,\" the Rider on the Pale Horse, has passed by that way, and one in the house — it may be the most loved of all, — is dead. There is no shirking of that bare truth, no attempt to soften it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Letters To the Ghost In My House",
          "text": "If that was really insulting, please don't be offended. I certainly don't think of you as my errand-ghost. Actually, I think of you as my friend."
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              79,
              91
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Yahoo! Canada Answers, Is Jesus God? Did Jesus ever claim to be God?:",
          "text": "If Jesus were not God, He would have told lede to not worship Him, just as the errand-ghost in Bring to Lightings did.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A spirit or spiritual messenger; an angel."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spirit",
          "spirit"
        ],
        [
          "spiritual",
          "spiritual"
        ],
        [
          "messenger",
          "messenger"
        ],
        [
          "angel",
          "angel"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              176,
              188
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, C. Jürschik y P. García, Interview with Jonathan Boakes:",
          "text": "In regard of the previous question – do you also choose empty localizations deliberately? Is this to strengthen the fright for loneliness and silence, the same fright that the errand ghost of those haunted places feels?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              60,
              72
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Hugo Santander, Poems on America, the world, life and death:",
          "text": "Death is not unknown to him, but she has perished / And her errand ghost wanders through the night.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any spirit or ghostly messenger."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ghostly",
          "ghostly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension) Any spirit or ghostly messenger."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "errand-ghost"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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