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GUEST - 9 dictionary results

guest

  [gest]
Use GUEST in a Sentence
–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.
3. a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc., for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides.
4. 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.
5. Zoology. an inquiline.
–verb (used with object)
6. to entertain as a guest.
–verb (used without object)
7. to be a guest; make an appearance as a guest: She's been guesting on all the TV talk shows.
–adjective
8. provided for or done by a guest: a guest towel; a guest column for a newspaper.
9. participating or performing as a guest: a guest conductor.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME gest < ON gestr; r. OE gi(e)st; c. G Gast, Goth gasts, L hostis; cf. host 1 , host 2

Related forms:
guestless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. company. See visitor.

Guest

  [gest]
–noun
Edgar A(lbert), 1881–1959, U.S. journalist and writer of verse, born in England.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To GUEST
guest   (gěst)   
n.  
  1. One who is a recipient of hospitality at the home or table of another.
  2. One to whom entertainment or hospitality has been extended by another in the role of host or hostess, as at a party.
  3. One who pays for meals or accommodations at a restaurant, hotel, or other establishment; a patron.
  4. A distinguished visitor to whom the hospitality of an institution, city, or government is extended.
  5. A visiting performer, speaker, or contestant, as on a radio or television program.
  6. Zoology A commensal organism, especially an insect that lives in the nest or burrow of another species.
v.   guest·ed, guest·ing, guests

v.   tr.
To entertain as a guest.
v.   intr.
To appear as a guest: guested on a television series.
adj.  
  1. Provided for guests: guest rooms.
  2. Participating as a guest: a guest conductor.

[Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr; see ghos-ti- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Guest

Guest\, n. [OE. gest, AS. g[ae]st, gest; akin to OS., D., & G. gust, Icel gestr, Sw. g["a]st, Dan. Gj["a]st, Goth. gast, Russ. goste, and to L. hostis enemy, stranger; the meaning stranger is the older one, but the root is unknown. Cf. Host an army, Hostile.]

1. A visitor; a person received and entertained in one's house or at one's table; a visitor entertained without pay.

To cheer his gueste, whom he had stayed that night. --Spenser.

True friendship's laws are by this rule exprest. Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest. --Pope.

Guest

Guest\, v. t. To receive or entertain hospitably. [Obs.] --Sylvester.

Guest

Guest\, v. i. To be, or act the part of, a guest. [Obs.]

And tell me, best of princes, who he was That guested here so late. --Chapman.

Guest

Guest\, n. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite. (b) An inquiline.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : GUEST
Spanish: invitado, huésped,
German: der Gast, Gäste…,
Japanese: 客
More Translations »

guest 
O.E. gæst, giest (Anglian gest) "guest, enemy," the common notion being "stranger," from P.Gmc. *gastiz (cf. O.Fris. jest, Du. gast, Ger. Gast, Goth. gasts), from PIE base *ghostis "strange" (cf. O.C.S. gosti "guest, friend"), also preserved in L. hostis "stranger, enemy," and hospes "host," from hosti-potis "host, guest," originally "lord of strangers." Spelling evolution infl. by O.N. gestr (the usual sound changes from the O.E. word would have yielded Mod.Eng. *yest). Phrase be my guest in the sense of "go right ahead" first recorded 1955.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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guest

see be my guest.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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