visitant

noun /ˈvɪzɪtənt/

1. One who visits; a guest; a visitor.

   Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness, / That is not kept in chains and close-pent rooms, / But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt / With the wild noise of prattling visitants, / Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure.

   1612-13, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi Act I, Scene III,

2. A spectre or ghost.

   Matsumura felt almost sure that his ghostly visitant had been none other than the Soul of the Mirror.

3. A migratory bird that makes a temporary stop somewhere.

   Reëstablishment of such facilities would probably soon draw occasional visitants in special need of rest in their desert flights.

Where it comes from

From French visitant, present participle of visiter.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry visitant (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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