"ghost character" meaning in English

{
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        "plural"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Drama",
          "orig": "en:Drama",
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          "ref": "2003, Catherine M. S. Alexander, The Cambridge Shakespeare Library, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 231:",
          "text": "Beside this detailed information which Hall provides about Matthew Gough, Shakespeare's Gough is a ghost character. There is, indeed, no way in which an audience could pick up who he is when he appears only to be killed immediately.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              2,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, David Coleman, John Webster, Renaissance Dramatist, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "A ‘ghost’ character is one who is marked as present on stage, but given no lines to speak: many editors consider the inclusion of these characters to be an oversight on the part of the writer or printer, and so remove them from modern stage directions; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              38,
              53
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2014, Lena Cowen Orlin, Othello, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 277:",
          "text": "Joseph A. Porter's discussion of the ‘ghost character’ of Valentine in Romeo and Juliet is also illuminating: Porter describes Valentine as a ‘symptom or by-product of Mercutio's transformation’ from rival lover (in Shakespeare's source) to friend […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A character who is mentioned as appearing on stage, but does not do anything and seems to have no purpose."
      ],
      "id": "en-ghost_character-en-noun--ZpMADOM",
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        ],
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          "stage",
          "stage"
        ]
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        "(drama, literature) A character who is mentioned as appearing on stage, but does not do anything and seems to have no purpose."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "broadcasting",
        "drama",
        "dramaturgy",
        "entertainment",
        "film",
        "lifestyle",
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing",
        "television",
        "theater"
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          "_dis": "33 67",
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          "_dis": "32 68",
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          "name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "ghost word"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A kanji included erroneously in the JIS X 0208 character set (not traceable to the sources used to compile JIS X 0208)."
      ],
      "id": "en-ghost_character-en-noun-en:Q3497103",
      "links": [
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          "kanji"
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        ]
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        "(computing) A kanji included erroneously in the JIS X 0208 character set (not traceable to the sources used to compile JIS X 0208)."
      ],
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "lang_code": "ja",
          "roman": "yuurei moji",
          "sense": "kanji",
          "word": "幽霊文字"
        }
      ],
      "wikidata": [
        "Q3497103"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "ghost character"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Japanese translations"
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ghost characters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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          "text": "Beside this detailed information which Hall provides about Matthew Gough, Shakespeare's Gough is a ghost character. There is, indeed, no way in which an audience could pick up who he is when he appears only to be killed immediately.",
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          "ref": "2010, David Coleman, John Webster, Renaissance Dramatist, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "A ‘ghost’ character is one who is marked as present on stage, but given no lines to speak: many editors consider the inclusion of these characters to be an oversight on the part of the writer or printer, and so remove them from modern stage directions; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
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            [
              38,
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            ]
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          "ref": "2014, Lena Cowen Orlin, Othello, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 277:",
          "text": "Joseph A. Porter's discussion of the ‘ghost character’ of Valentine in Romeo and Juliet is also illuminating: Porter describes Valentine as a ‘symptom or by-product of Mercutio's transformation’ from rival lover (in Shakespeare's source) to friend […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A character who is mentioned as appearing on stage, but does not do anything and seems to have no purpose."
      ],
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        [
          "stage",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(drama, literature) A character who is mentioned as appearing on stage, but does not do anything and seems to have no purpose."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "broadcasting",
        "drama",
        "dramaturgy",
        "entertainment",
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        "lifestyle",
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        "media",
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        "television",
        "theater"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Computing",
        "en:Han characters"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "ghost word"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A kanji included erroneously in the JIS X 0208 character set (not traceable to the sources used to compile JIS X 0208)."
      ],
      "links": [
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        "(computing) A kanji included erroneously in the JIS X 0208 character set (not traceable to the sources used to compile JIS X 0208)."
      ],
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      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikidata": [
        "Q3497103"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "lang_code": "ja",
      "roman": "yuurei moji",
      "sense": "kanji",
      "word": "幽霊文字"
    }
  ],
  "word": "ghost character"
}