hosta

American

[hoh-stuh, hos-tuh] / ˈhoʊ stə, ˈhɒs tə /

noun

any of various plants belonging to the genus Hosta, of the lily family, which includes the plantain lily.

hosta British

/ ˈhɒstə /

noun

any plant of the liliaceous genus Hosta, of China and Japan: cultivated esp for their ornamental foliage

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of hosta

< New Latin (1797), after Nicolaus Thomas Host (1761–1834), Austrian botanist; see -a ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Last week Sienna Hosta, a specialist plant nursery in Surrey, told customers it would no longer sell to Northern Ireland by mail order.

From BBC • Dec. 21, 2020

A snail named Hosta won the annual snail-racing championships in Norfolk, England, and it’s a good thing for him that he did.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2018

I can’t imagine sacrificing any of my beautiful Hosta leaves just to eat them!

From Seattle Times • Jun. 6, 2018

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023