spook

1. (informal) A ghost or phantom.Examples: "The building was haunted by a couple of spooks."; ""I'll say what I think, no more and no less, and I won't be scared by you or your spooks into altering my opinions.""informal

2. (informal) A scare or fright.Examples: "The big spider gave me a spook."informal

3. (espionage, slang) An undercover agent, spy, or intelligence analyst.Examples: "From Ian Fleming to John Le Carre - authors have long been fascinated by the world of espionage. But, asks the BBC’s Gordon Corera, what do real life spooks make of fictional spies?"; "The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks."; "The hard right is on the march in Europe. The Alternative for Germany, a party declared extremist by domestic spooks, scored a record result in a national election in February."slang

4. (slang, dated, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.Examples: "Some won't take spooks—hell, don't make no difference to me."; ""[…] Dryades Street and that whole uptown neighborhood is gonna be worth a fortune once the white people take it back from you spooks and develop it. […]""datedethnicoffensiveslangslur

5. (philosophy) A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.Examples: "He who is infatuated with Man leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook."

6. (US, slang, medicine) A psychiatrist.Examples: "Commonly, the surgeons view nonsurgeons with disdain. The most disdain is directed toward the “shrinks” or the “spooks,” as the psychiatrists are called."USslang