Word of the Day

Saturday October 17, 2009

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wraith [RAYTH]

noun

1. An apparition of a living person seen before death; hence, an apparition; a specter; a vision; a ghost.
2. Something ghostly and insubstantial.

• As Davey, a Tiny Tim-ish wraith who may indeed be perilously sick, Spahn can summon at will the most eruptive cough imaginable (you can't help wondering what the casting call consisted of).
  Sandy MacDonald. "Charm of `Sick' lies in the dysfunction", Boston Globe, Aug 29, 2009
• Today's vamps are also eternally youthful, with no surgery required, which is why the fashion world has embraced them, too - recent magazine spreads and ads brim with pale wraiths sporting red lips, black-rimmed eyes and killer stiletto booties.
  Johanna Schneller, "Who knew bloodsucking would be so marketable?", The Globe and Mail, Aug 1, 2009
• There were days when the misty gray lake, dim and delicious, lay veiled within its irregular shores. Then the lowering sun stood on tree-tops, a pale red wraith like the ghost of an Indian.
  Mary Hartwell Catherwood (1847 - 1902) An American author. The Cursed Patois From "Mackinac And Lake Stories" (1899)

Origin of the Word

Wraith, approximately 1513, derives from Scottish "ghost", Old Norse vorth "guardian" in the sense of "guardian angel."