haunts

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of haunt.

   A pale figure haunts the old theater long after the lights go out.

   The memory of that betrayal still haunts her.

   Note

   In everyday use the verb takes a direct object. A ghost haunts a house, a stalker haunts a victim, and a memory haunts the person it unsettles. The older intransitive sense, where someone simply haunts somewhere in the sense of living or staying there, is archaic. In the dialects of Northern England and Scotland, haunts can also mean accustoms or practises.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of haunt.

   After years abroad, she sought out her childhood haunts one by one.

   The reporter knew all the politician's favorite haunts around the capital.

   Note

   The plural gathers several meanings: the places a person keeps returning to, the lairs and feeding grounds of animals, and, in dialect, ghosts themselves. It pairs naturally with possessives, as in her childhood haunts or his favorite haunts, because a haunt belongs to whoever frequents it. After an article or possessive it is the noun; after a singular subject the same spelling is the present-tense verb.

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