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ghoul (n.)

1786, goul, in the English translation of William Beckford's Orientalist novel "Vathek" (which was written in French), from Arabic ghul, an evil spirit that robs graves and feeds on corpses, from ghala "he seized."

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Definitions of ghoul from WordNet

ghoul (n.)
someone who takes bodies from graves and sells them for anatomical dissection;
Synonyms: graverobber / body snatcher
ghoul (n.)
an evil spirit or ghost;
From wordnet.princeton.edu