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host 1 (hōst)
Share:
n.
1. One who receives or entertains guests in a social or official capacity.
2. A person who manages an inn or hotel.
3. One that furnishes facilities and resources for a function or event: the city chosen as host for the Olympic Games.
4. The emcee or interviewer on a radio or television program.
5. Biology
a. An organism on which or in which another organism lives.
b. A cell that has been infected by a virus or other infective agent.
6. Medicine The recipient of a transplanted tissue or organ.
7. Computers
a. A computer or other device providing data or services that a remote computer can access by means of a network or modem.
b. A computer that is connected to a TCP/IP network such as the internet.
tr.v. host·ed, host·ing, hosts
1. To serve as host to or at: "the garden party he had hosted last spring" (Saturday Review).
2. To provide software that offers data or services, hardware, or both over a computer network.

[Middle English, host, guest, from Old French, from Latin hospes, hospit-; see ghos-ti- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

hostly adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.