host

1 [hohst]
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 ).
verb (used with object)
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.
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the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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verb (used without object)
10.
to perform the duties or functions of a host.
Origin:
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 potent) (hence, “one granting hospitality, one in charge of guests”); compare, with different initial elements, Greek despótēs master, despot, Lithuanian viẽšpats lord

Related forms
host·less, adjective
host·ship, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged

host

2 [hohst]
noun
1.
a multitude or great number of persons or things: a host of details.
2.
an army.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English (h)oste < Old French < Latin hostis stranger, enemy; akin to guest

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

Host

[hohst]
noun Ecclesiastical.
the bread or wafer consecrated in the celebration of the Eucharist.
Origin:
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 Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To hosts
Collins
World English Dictionary
host1 (həʊst) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a person who receives or entertains guests, esp in his own home
2.  a.  a country or organization which provides facilities for and receives visitors to an event
 b.  (as modifier): the host nation
3.  the compere of a show or television programme
4.  biology
 a.  an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite
 b.  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
 
—vb
7.  to be the host of (a party, programme, etc): to host one's own show
8.  informal (US) (tr) to leave (a restaurant) without paying the bill
 
[C13: from French hoste, from Latin hospes guest, foreigner, from hostis enemy]

host2 (həʊst) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a great number; multitude
2.  an archaic word for army
 
[C13: from Old French hoste, from Latin hostis stranger, enemy]

Host (həʊst) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
the bread consecrated in the Eucharist
 
[C14: from Old French oiste, from Latin hostia victim]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

host
"person who receives guests," late 13c., from O.Fr. hoste "guest, host" (12c.), from L. hospitem (nom. hospes) "guest, host," lit. "lord of strangers," from PIE *ghostis- "stranger" (cf. O.C.S. gospodi "lord, master," Goth. gasts, O.E. gæst "guest"). The biological sense of "animal or plant having
a parasite" is from 1857. The verb is early 15c., from the noun. Hostess is attested from late 13c.

host
"multitude" 1265, from O.Fr. host "army" (10c.), from M.L. hostis "army, war-like expedition," from L. hostis "enemy, stranger," from the same root as host (1). Replaced O.E. here, and has in turn been largely superseded by army. The generalized meaning of "large number" is first attested 1613.

host
"body of Christ, consecrated bread," c.1300, from L. hostia "sacrifice," also "the animal sacrificed," applied in Church L. to Christ; probably ult. related to host (1) in its root sense of "stranger, enemy."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

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.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
host   (hōst)  Pronunciation Key 

    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.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
HOST
Healthcare Open Systems and Trials
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary

Host definition


an entertainer (Rom. 16:23); a tavern-keeper, the keeper of a caravansary (Luke 10:35). In warfare, a troop or military force. This consisted at first only of infantry. Solomon afterwards added cavalry (1 Kings 4:26; 10:26). Every male Israelite from twenty to fifty years of age was bound by the law to bear arms when necessary (Num. 1:3; 26:2; 2 Chr. 25:5). Saul was the first to form a standing army (1 Sam. 13:2; 24:2). This example was followed by David (1 Chr. 27:1), and Solomon (1 Kings 4:26), and by the kings of Israel and Judah (2 Chr. 17:14; 26:11; 2 Kings 11:4, etc.).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Example sentences
Remember, she's the first in a week of five hosts, each with a different area
  of expertise.
So virus scanners usually limit themselves to a smaller list of probable hosts.
Some castrate their hosts and take over their minds.
To ensure their own survival, parasites alter the appearance and behavior of
  their hosts in the creepiest ways.
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