ghosten meaning (poetic): definition, etymology and quotations

ghosten

adj

Etymology From ghost + -en (“resembling”).

Poetic Of, belonging to, or pertaining to ghosts; ghostly; spiritual.

And the cold chill of an adder touch Sit with a leaden sway. And the ghosten spell-bound dogs, And the coasten hell-hound dogs, Glooms the coming of the day.1862, Gordon Winant Hewes, Ballads of the war:
Time Chimes its swallows from the ghosten brass Under the trembling mirrors, a heart Groined with gloom and iron sighs Winter and summer laid four tones apart Moans the bell in your empty thighs.1969, Stephen Spender, Irving Kristol, Congress for Cultural Freedom, Encounter:

verb

Etymology From ghost + -en (“to become like”).

Ambitransitive, Nonstandard, Poetic To make like a ghost; behave or appear as a ghost; make ghostly.

So looks the last month's pilgrimage, So the last hill, Down the moon-ghostened road there walks.1911, John Freeman, Fifty poems:
All must look magical in the silence of the stars, when the moon ghostens in the trees, and owls float noiselessly about or pass the time of night in their long melopy, from hollybush to old Scotch fir, their cries reechoing from the turrets of the house and sounding on the lake.1912, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, Charity:

1 more example

at ACA florida i was doing a "shadow session", but then i was shy to do it with philippe; did not wanted to "ghosten" him.2006, ACA Windart Residency 2003