Hosting

host ¹  (hst)

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 The animal or plant on which or in which another organism lives.

6. Medicine The recipient of a transplanted tissue or organ.

7. Computer Science A computer containing data or programs that another computer can access by means of a network or modem.

tr.v. host·ed, host·ing, hosts Usage Problem

To serve as host to or at: "the garden party he had hosted last spring" (Saturday Review).

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

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hostly 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.

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host ²  (hst)

n.

1. An army.

2. A great number; a multitude. See Synonyms at multitude.

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[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin hostis, from Latin, enemy; see ghos-ti- in Indo-European roots.]

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host ³ also Host  (hst)

n. Ecclesiastical

The consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist.

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[Middle English, from Latin hostia, sacrifice.]

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Hosting a muster of armed men, 1422.