[hohst] 
| 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). |
| 7. | to be the host at (a dinner, reception, etc.): He hosted a reception for new members. |
| 8. | to act as host to: The vice president hosted the foreign dignitaries during their visit. |
| 9. | to act as master of ceremonies, moderator, or interviewer for: to host a popular talk show. |
| 10. | to perform the duties or functions of a host. |
[hohst] | 1. | a multitude or great number of persons or things: a host of details. |
| 2. | an army. |
[hohst] | the bread or wafer consecrated in the celebration of the Eucharist. |
| host 1 (hōst) n.
To serve as host to or at: "the garden party he had hosted last spring" (Saturday Review). [Middle English, host, guest, from Old French, from Latin hospes, hospit-; see ghos-ti- in Indo-European roots.] host'ly adj. Usage Note: Host was used as a verb in Shakespeare's time, but this usage was long obsolete when the verb was reintroduced (or perhaps reinvented) in recent years to mean "perform the role of a host." The usage occurs particularly in contexts relating to institutional gatherings or television and radio shows, where the person performing the role of host has not personally invited the guests. Perhaps because the verb involves a suspect extension of the traditional conception of hospitality, it initially met with critical resistance. In a 1968 survey only 18 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the usage in the sentence The Cleveland chapter will host this year's convention. Over time, however, the usage has become increasingly well established and has the useful purpose of describing the activities of one who performs the ceremonial or practical role of a host, as in arranging a conference or welcoming guests. In our 1986 survey, 53 percent of the Panelists accepted the usage in the phrase a reception hosted by the Secretary of State. The verb is less well accepted when it is used to describe the role of a performer who acts as a master of ceremonies for a broadcast or film, where the relation of the word to the notion of "hospitality" is stretched still further. |
| host 2 (hōst) n.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin hostis, from Latin, enemy; see ghos-ti- in Indo-European roots.] |
| host 3 also Host (hōst) n. Ecclesiastical The consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist. [Middle English, from Latin hostia, sacrifice.] |
host (hōst)
n.
The animal or plant on which or in which a parasitic organism lives.
The recipient of a transplanted tissue or organ.
