return to haunt

return to haunt (one)

1. To pursue one in a ghostly or otherwise supernatural form. If you don't do exactly what I want at my funeral, I'll return to haunt you all! The ghost of the business partner he betrayed had returned to haunt him in the night.
2. For a past situation, decision, etc. to cause problems for one in the present or future. With the organized strike shutting down his production line entirely, the CEO's poor treatment of his employees has returned to haunt him. Her remarks during the campaign returned to haunt her in the first debate with he opponent.
3. To come back continually to one's consciousness, as of a thought or memory. The same nightmare returns to haunt me every time I fall asleep. The awful terms on which I ended my friendship with Helen keep returning to haunt me.
See also: haunt, return
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

return to haunt

one Go to come back to haunt one.
See also: haunt, return
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • return to haunt (one)
  • haunt
  • come back to haunt (one)
  • come back to haunt one
  • guardian angel
  • Dutchman
  • Flying Dutchman
  • things that go bump in the night
  • spooked
  • the witching hour
References in periodicals archive
He makes the most of his new life, until the demons of his past return to haunt him.
'Lusala' premieres to a rousing welcome
FORMER Celtic boss Neil Lennon hopes Gary Hooper doesn't return to haunt him today in the English Championship.
Lenny: I won't speak to Gary if he scores
FORMER PLAYER KLAXON Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing were deemed surplus to requirements at ODDS-COMPILERS' NAPS Firm This Coral Chelsea Ladbrokes Macclesfield bet365 Mansfield BoyleSports Borussia Sporting Index Granada Betfred Liverpool Hills Chesterfield Paddy Power Brighton BRAIN TEASER Liverpool but both have starred for West Ham this season and could return to haunt their former employers.
INDIAN SIGN Manchester City can [...]
But the City boss admits the his ex- skipper will almost certainly return to haunt him when Karl Robinson's men travel to the Ricoh at the end of February in what is due to be the goal-getting mid-fielder's first return to the club.
Baker bound to bite us in the bum!
RHYL will be hoping an old friend does not return to haunt them as they bid to make it 21 matches without defeat in the Huws Gray Alliance today.
Rhyl are wary; HG ALLIANCE By DAVE JONES
JENSON Button has revealed he never believed such dark days as he is currently experiencing would return to haunt him.
Button haunted by his dark days; SPORT SHORTS AUTO
While he fights crime, flashes of his old life return to haunt him and he seeks revenge on those who maimed him.
Robocop (Channel 5, 10pm)
Yet surely the law of averages would suggest such scattergun style and strangled fluency will return to haunt the Old Trafford club at some point this campaign.
Genius. How are Utd top of table?
Summary: Harry Redknapp fears Bobby Zamora could return to haunt Tottenham in their FA Cup quarter-final replay with Fulham.
Redknapp wary of Fulham's Zamora
RUGBY LEAGUE: Former Wigan and Australia centre Steve Renouf fears ex-Kangaroo boss Wayne Bennett could return to haunt the defending champions in tomorrow's World Cup final against New Zealand.
Rugby League: Steve's fear
She told him that the three demons are the spirits of her three executed friends, who return to haunt her so that she won't forget them.
Night of the crusher: the waking nightmare of sleep paralysis propels people into a spirit world
Residents of time return To haunt the pathways through the mind, With filtered moments sweeter yet, Minster of daylight never forget.
your poems
Jpr Williams today warned Wales that Scottish rugby legends like Gavin Hastings and Finlay Calder could return to haunt them in the big Six Nations opener this Saturday.
JPR'S WARNING
Warnings that negative equity may return to haunt heavily mortgaged homeowners are being overdone.
Personal Finance: Negative equity fears 'overstated'
None of this deterred the Bush administration from using its leverage to compel Belgrade to submit to the UN tribunal's demands -- thereby fortifying dangerous precedents that may return to haunt American officials after the UN's International Criminal Court comes into existence.
U.S. blackmails Serbia -- again. (Insider Report)