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host1

[hohst]
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noun
  1. a person who receives or entertains guests at home or elsewhere: the host at a theater party.
  2. a master of ceremonies, moderator, or interviewer for a television or radio program.
  3. a person, place, company, or the like, that provides services, resources, etc., as for a convention or sporting event: Our city would like to serve as host for the next Winter Olympics.
  4. the landlord of an inn.
  5. a living animal or plant from which a parasite obtains nutrition.
  6. Surgery. the recipient of a graft.Compare donor(def 2).
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verb (used with object)
  1. to be the host at (a dinner, reception, etc.): He hosted a reception for new members.
  2. to act as host to: The vice president hosted the foreign dignitaries during their visit.
  3. to act as master of ceremonies, moderator, or interviewer for: to host a popular talk show.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to perform the duties or functions of a host.
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Origin of host1

1250–1300; Middle English (h)oste (noun) < Middle French < Latin hospit- (stem of hospes) host, guest, stranger, perhaps < *hosti-pot(i)s or *hos-pot(i)s, equivalent to hos(ti)- combining form of hostis stranger (see host2) + -pot(i)s, akin to potis having the power to, posse to be able (see potent1) (hence, “one granting hospitality, one in charge of guests”); compare, with different initial elements, Greek despótēs master, despot, Lithuanian viẽšpats lord
Related formshost·less, adjectivehost·ship, noun

host2

[hohst]
noun
  1. a multitude or great number of persons or things: a host of details.
  2. an army.
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Origin of host2

1250–1300; Middle English (h)oste < Old French < Latin hostis stranger, enemy; akin to guest

Synonyms

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1. swarm, crowd, drove, throng, horde, myriad.

Host

[hohst]
noun Ecclesiastical.
  1. the bread or wafer consecrated in the celebration of the Eucharist.
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Origin of Host

1275–1325; Middle English hoste < Late Latin hostia Eucharistic wafer (Latin: victim, sacrifice); replacing Middle English oyst < Middle French oiste < Late Latin, as above
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

ownermoderatormanagerentertaineranchorpresenterarraycrowdmultitudereceiveintroducepresentkeeperproprietorinnkeeperemceethronghordearmylegion

Examples from the Web for host

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • These two have rallied their host upon his modishly trimmed side-whiskers.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • The laughter at this sally was all it should have been, even the host joining in it.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Then up the far slope he was lost at once in a host of trees.

  • But, though his host suggested this, Andrew refused to move his blankets.

  • United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures.

British Dictionary definitions for host

host1

noun
  1. a person who receives or entertains guests, esp in his own home
    1. a country or organization which provides facilities for and receives visitors to an event
    2. (as modifier)the host nation
  3. the compere of a show or television programme
  4. biology
    1. an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite
    2. an animal, esp an embryo, into which tissue is experimentally grafted
  5. computing a computer connected to a network and providing facilities to other computers and their users
  6. the owner or manager of an inn
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verb
  1. to be the host of (a party, programme, etc)to host one's own show
  2. (tr) US informal to leave (a restaurant) without paying the bill
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Word Origin

C13: from French hoste, from Latin hospes guest, foreigner, from hostis enemy

host2

noun
  1. a great number; multitude
  2. an archaic word for army
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Word Origin

C13: from Old French hoste, from Latin hostis stranger, enemy

Host

noun
  1. the bread consecrated in the Eucharist
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Word Origin

C14: from Old French oiste, from Latin hostia victim
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

Word Origin and History for host

n.1

"person who receives guests," late 13c., from Old French hoste "guest, host, hostess, landlord" (12c., Modern French hôte), from Latin hospitem (nominative hospes) "guest, host," literally "lord of strangers," from PIE *ghostis- "stranger" (cf. Old Church Slavonic gosti "guest, friend," gospodi "lord, master;" see guest). The biological sense of "animal or plant having a parasite" is from 1857.

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n.2

"multitude" mid-13c., from Old French host "army" (10c.), from Medieval Latin hostis "army, war-like expedition," from Latin hostis "enemy, foreigner, stranger," from the same root as host (n.1). Replaced Old English here, and in turn has been largely superseded by army. The generalized meaning of "large number" is first attested 1610s.

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n.3

"body of Christ, consecrated bread," c.1300, from Latin hostia "sacrifice," also "the animal sacrificed," applied in Church Latin to Christ; probably ultimately related to host (n.1) in its root sense of "stranger, enemy."

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v.

"to serve as a host," early 15c., from host (n.1). Related: Hosted; hosting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
host in Medicine

host

(hōst)
n.
  1. The animal or plant on which or in which a parasitic organism lives.
  2. The recipient of a transplanted tissue or organ.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
host in Science

host

[hōst]
    1. The larger of two organisms in a symbiotic relationship.
    2. An organism or cell on or in which a parasite lives or feeds.♦ A definitive host is an organism in which a parasite reaches sexual maturity. The anopheles mosquito is the definitive host for the malaria plasmodium because, while the mosquito is not adversely affected by the plasmodium's presence, it is the organism in which the plasmodium matures and reproduces.♦ An intermediate host is an organism in which a parasite develops but does not attain sexual maturity. Humans and certain other vertebrates are the intermediate host of the malaria plasmodium.♦ A paratenic host is an organism which may be required for the completion of a parasite's life cycle but in which no development of the parasite occurs. The unhatched eggs of nematodes are sometimes carried in a paratenic host such as a bird or rodent. When a predator eats the paratenic host, the eggs are ingested as well.
  2. The recipient of a transplanted tissue or organ.
  3. A computer containing data or programs that another computer can access by means of a network or modem.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.