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

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See Examples For:

hosta

In a shaded area of the sprawling backyard, they planted more than 300 hosta varieties.

From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024

There’s a hosta for every garden, including dwarf forms that are perfect for container culture.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 1, 2023

These studies of color and form verge on the abstract but include recognizable features such as beads of water on a hosta leaf.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 28, 2021

I also saw some hosta leaves sprouting, and they are destined to get zapped by forthcoming freezes.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2021

Every few years, my girlfriend exiles another tray of green things — a peony, a coral bell, a hosta — to be pickled by road salt and trampled by passers-by.

From New York Times ● May 26, 2010

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