From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishspookspook1 /spuːk/ noun [countable] informal 1 GHOSTa ghost2 especially American EnglishSPY a spy
Examples from the Corpus
spook• Paltry charges, it would seem, for so celebrated a spook.• And these foreign spooks, these non-existents on the pay-rolls of any Western army, were part of that scheme.• As worrisome to the Agency as loose-lipped spooks were those few outsiders who dared to write about it.• Hsu admits that it is somewhat ironic that technology designed to help democratise the internet is also allowing the spooks to spy.• Concocting any half-truth that suited some harebrained plan dreamed up by the spooks in Century House.• Anyone going to that kind of trouble, he said, has likely crossed the line from enthusiast to spook.spookspook2 verb [transitive] informal FRIGHTENEDto frighten someone I’m not easily spooked.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
spook• They are spooking away at the window and Charlie and Emma take some direct action and soak them in water.• If the cap had been spooked by our presence could the same be true of the cats?• Maybe she came in at bath time because being alone in her empty wing spooked her.• Something spooked him, deep inside, somewhere inaccessible.• The proposal so spooked lawmakers that they offered an alternative referendum that allowed independent voters to vote in primaries.• Brown has taken great care not to spook the City.• Something must have spooked the horses.• If the stock market spooks you, park your money in two-year Treasury notes.Origin spook1 (1800-1900) Dutch 