guest

[ gest ]
See synonyms for guest on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.

  2. a person who receives the hospitality of a club, a city, or the like.

  1. a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc., for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides.

  2. an often well-known person invited to participate or perform in a regular program, series, etc., as a substitute for a regular member or as a special attraction.

  3. Zoology. an inquiline.

verb (used with object)
  1. to entertain as a guest.

verb (used without object)
  1. to be a guest; make an appearance as a guest: She's been guesting on all the TV talk shows.

adjective
  1. provided for or done by a guest: a guest towel; a guest column for a newspaper.

  2. participating or performing as a guest: a guest conductor.

Origin of guest

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr; replacing Old English gi(e)st; cognate with German Gast,Gothic gasts,Latin hostis;cf. host1, host2

synonym study For guest

1. See visitor.

Other words for guest

Other words from guest

  • guestless, adjective

Words that may be confused with guest

Other definitions for Guest (2 of 2)

Guest
[ gest ]

noun
  1. Edgar A(lbert), 1881–1959, U.S. journalist and writer of verse, born in England.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use guest in a sentence

  • When I had finished, the other guests had all gone out, but daylight was coming in, and I began to feel more at home.

    Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
  • Frulein Fichtner herself looked no ways dismayed at the number of her guests, though we had the air of coming to storm the house.

  • A dish of toads of the largest and most repulsive variety used to be offered one by one to the big man's relatives and guests.

  • And Flora devoutly kissed her, then gossipped pleasantly about the other guests and the people in the neighborhood.

    Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
  • When Yung Pak ate his meals, he sat upon a rug on the floor with his father and such male guests as might be in the house.

    Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike

British Dictionary definitions for guest

guest

/ (ɡɛst) /


noun
  1. a person who is entertained, taken out to eat, etc, and paid for by another

    • a person who receives hospitality at the home of another: a weekend guest

    • (as modifier): the guest room

    • a person who receives the hospitality of a government, establishment, or organization

    • (as modifier): a guest speaker

    • an actor, contestant, entertainer, etc, taking part as a visitor in a programme in which there are also regular participants

    • (as modifier): a guest appearance

  1. a patron of a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, etc

  2. zoology a nontechnical name for inquiline

  3. be my guest informal do as you like

verb
  1. (intr) (in theatre and broadcasting) to be a guest: to guest on a show

Origin of guest

1
Old English giest guest, stranger, enemy; related to Old Norse gestr, Gothic gasts, Old High German gast, Old Slavonic gostǐ, Latin hostis enemy

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with guest

guest

see be my guest.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.