host
One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
Noun
- One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.
- A good host is always considerate of the guest’s needs.
- Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand. - c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
- One that provides a facility for an event.
- A person or organization responsible for running an event.
- Our company is host of the annual conference this year.
- A moderator or master of ceremonies for a performance.
- The host was terrible, but the acts themselves were good.
Synonyms: presenter
- The primary member of a system, typically the member who fronts most often.
- Any computer attached to a network.
- A cell or organism which harbors another organism or biological entity, usually a parasite.
- Viruses depend on the host that they infect in order to be able to reproduce.
- A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents. - 2013 May-June, Katie...
- An organism bearing certain genetic material, with respect to its cells.
- The so-called junk DNA is known, so far, to provide no apparent benefit to its host.
- A paid male companion offering conversation and in some cases sex, as in certain types of bar in Japan.
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis Proto-Indo-European *pótis Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis Proto-Italic *hostipotis Latin hospes Old French ostebor. Middle English hoste English host From Middle English hoste, from Old French oste (French: hôte), from Latin hospitem, accusative of hospes (“a host, also a sojourner, visitor, guest; hence, a foreigner, a stranger”), from *hostipotis, an old compound of hostis and the root of potis, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis (“master of guests”), from *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, enemy”) and *pótis (“owner, master, host, husband”). Used in English since 13th century.
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air host bulletproof host co-host cohost definitive host dehost DMZ host graft-versus-host graft-versus-host disease host cell host city host country hostel hoster hostess host family hostless hostmask hostmaster hostname host plant host response hostress host rock
Noun Entry 2
- A multitude of people arrayed as an army; used also in religious senses, as: Heavenly host (of angels)
- Why, Plugson, even thy own host is all in mutiny: Cotton is conquered; but the ‘bare backs’ — are worse covered than ever! - 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. X, Plugson of Undershot”, in Past and Present, American...
- All about the hosts of Mordor raged. - 1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “chapter 4, The Field of Cormallen”, in The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.:...
- By Lady Day the Scriptorium was ready to receive the "copying and burrowing" of the host of readers who had been directed by Furnivall for the past twenty years. - 1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of...
- A large number of items; a large inventory.
- The dealer stocks a host of parts for my Model A.
- There are a host of reasons for this decision.
- I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; […] - 1802, William Wordsworth, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud:
Origin
From Middle English oost, borrowed from Old French ost, oste, hoste, from Latin hostis (“foreign enemy”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (as opposed to inimicus (“personal enemy”)). Doublet of guest.
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Noun Christianity
- The consecrated bread of the Eucharist.
- Do you pray to the Holy Ghost when you suck your host? / Do you read who's dead in the Irish Post? - 1978, John Lydon, “Religion II”, performed by Public Image Ltd.:
Synonyms: Body of Christ
Origin
From Middle English host, oist, ost, from Old French hoiste, from Latin hostia (“sacrificial victim”). Doublet of hostie.
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Verb
- To perform the role of a host.
- Our company will host the annual conference this year.
- I was terrible at hosting that show.
- I’ll be hosting tonight. I hope I’m not terrible.
- To lodge at an inn.
- Where you shall host. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- To run software made available to a remote user or process.
- Kremvax hosts a variety of services.
- CMU/TEK TCP/IP software uses an excessive amount of cpu resources for terminal support both outbound, when accessing another system, and inbound, when the local system is hosting a session. - 1987 May 7, Selden E. Ball,...