Host , n. (Biol.)
Any animal or plant affording lodgment or subsistence to a parasitic or commensal organism. Thus a tree is a host of
an air plant growing upon it.
Host , v. i. To lodge at an inn; to take up entertainment.
[Obs.]
"Where you shall host."
Shak.
Host , v. t. To give entertainment to. [Obs.]
Spenser.
Host , n. [OE. host, ost, OF. hoste, oste, F. hôte, from L. hospes a stranger who is treated as a guest, he who
treats another as his guest, a
hostl prob. fr. hostis stranger, enemy (akin to E. guest a visitor) + potis able;
akin to Skr. pati master, lord. See Host an army, Possible, and cf. Hospitable, Hotel.]
One who receives or entertains another, whether
gratuitously or for compensation; one from whom another receives food, lodging, or entertainment; a landlord. Chaucer. "Fair host and Earl." Tennyson.
Time is like a fashionable host,
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand.
Shak.
Host , n. [OE. host, ost, OF. host, ost, fr. L. hostis enemy, LL., army. See Guest, and cf. Host a landlord.]
1. An army;
a number of
men gathered for war.
A host so great as covered all the field.
Dryden. 2. Any great number or multitude; a throng.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.
Luke ii. 13. All at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils.
Wordsworth.
Host (hōst), n. [LL. hostia sacrifice, victim, from hostire to strike.]
(R. C. Ch.) The consecrated wafer, believed to be the body of Christ, which in the
Mass is offered as a sacrifice; also, the bread before consecration.
&fist; In the Latin Vulgate the word was
applied to the Savior as being an offering for the sins of men.
Hear it pronounced