What is the meaning of the phrase ‘white as a ghost’?
Turned extremely pale, usually in reaction to something (for example due to fear, illness or shock).
What is the origin of the phrase ‘white as a ghost’?
The phrase ‘white as a ghost has been used since at least the mid-1800s, but it’s very hard to determine when the first use was exactly. The phrase is deeply rooted in folklore and literature where ghosts are often portrayed as ethereal, almost translucent, white entities.
There is an additional link between ghosts and the colour white that comes from the association of the wrapping of deceased people’s bodies in a white burial shroud. Ghosts were often depicted as skeletons still wrapped in their shroud. People later imagined the dead coming back as apparitions still shrouded in their death sheets, which is this is a common costume worn for Halloween. Today the cultural imagination continues to associate ghosts with the colour white.
What are some notable uses of the phrase ‘white as a ghost’?
In the classic detective novel Murder on the Orient Express written by Agatha Christie and published in 1934, characters react with shock when the body of a murder victim is discovered. The phrase ‘white as a ghost’ is used to describe a character’s sudden loss of colour in the face, emphasising the gravity of the situation. In the context of a murder mystery, where surprise and fear are common, the phrase serves to enhance the emotional tone of the scene.
In the Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, released in 2002, the phrase ‘white as a ghost’ is used to describe Ron Weasley’s reaction after encountering Aragog, the giant spider. The phrase amplifies the idea that he is so frightened that all the blood has drained from his face, leaving him looking pale and sickly, like a ghost.
During World War II, it was reported that some of Churchill’s staff were described as being ‘white as a ghost’ when they witnessed the devastation caused by bombings during the London Blitz.
Similarly, during tense moments of the Cuban Missile Crisis, journalists and historians have written that many of the political and military advisors in the White House became ‘white as a ghost’ as they realised just how close the world was to nuclear war. The phrase effectively captures the fear and gravity of the moment.
