# host

Pronunciation: say "HOHST" US /hoʊst/, UK /həʊst/

## Verb

1. To act as host: to receive and entertain guests, to organize and run an event, or to present a show.
   - Simple: To welcome and look after guests, to plan and run an event, or to present a show.
   - _The museum agreed to host the traveling exhibition._
   - _She hosts a weekly podcast about local history._
4. Of a place or thing, to provide a home for something or hold it, such as wildlife, a building, or a collection.
   - Simple: Of a place or thing, to be home to something or have it inside, like animals, a building, or a collection.
   - _The university's library hosts one of the country's oldest map collections._
   - _Coral reefs host an astonishing variety of fish, sponges, and other sea life._
5. To run software or a service on a computer so that remote users or processes can access it.
   - Simple: To run a website or program on a computer so others can use it.
   - _The university hosts its online courses on dedicated servers._
   - _Many startups choose to host their applications in the cloud._

## Noun

2. A person or organization that receives, welcomes, and entertains guests, whether socially, commercially, or officially.
   - Simple: A person who welcomes and takes care of guests in their home or business.
   - _The host welcomed each arriving guest with a warm handshake._
   - _Our hosts had prepared rooms for all the visiting relatives._
3. The person who introduces performers, addresses the audience, and guides a show from start to finish.
   - Simple: The person who leads a show and talks to the audience between parts.
   - _The talk show host opened with a monologue about the week's news._
   - _Viewers tuned in mainly to watch their favorite late-night hosts._
6. A person, organization, or place that holds an event, providing the venue or organizing and running it.
   - Simple: The person, group, or place that holds an event, like the host city of the Olympics.
   - _The stadium served as host for the championship final._
   - _Several venues competed to be the host of the summit._
7. An animal, plant, or cell that another organism, such as a parasite or virus, or foreign genetic material lives in or depends on.
   - Simple: A living thing that another living thing, like a parasite or virus, lives on or inside.
   - _The parasite cannot reproduce without a suitable host._
   - _Mosquitoes carry the pathogen from one host to the next._
8. A large number of people or things, usually in the phrase a host of.
   - Simple: A large number of people or things.
   - _The report raised a host of new questions for the committee._
   - _A host of small errors had crept into the final document._
9. A computer attached to a network, identified by its own network address.
   - Simple: A computer that is connected to a network.
   - _Administrators assigned a unique name to each host in the data center._
   - _The firewall blocks traffic from any host outside the company network._
10. The bread or wafer used in the Christian Eucharist, especially once it has been consecrated.
   - Simple: The special bread or wafer used in Christian Communion, especially after it has been blessed.
   - _The priest elevated the host during the Mass._
   - _Communicants knelt at the rail to receive the host._
11. A great multitude of people gathered as an army; also used in religious contexts, as in a heavenly host of angels.
   - Simple: A very large group of people, especially an army or a group of angels.
   - _A mighty host advanced across the plain at dawn._
   - _Scripture describes a host of angels praising in the heavens._
12. A paid male companion who offers conversation and sometimes sex, as at certain bars in Japan.
   - Simple: A man paid to talk with and entertain customers, often at a special kind of bar in Japan.
   - _She requested her favorite host as soon as she entered the club._
   - _The most popular hosts earn large sums from devoted regulars._

## Verb

13. To lodge or stay overnight at an inn. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To stay the night at an inn.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Within a multiple system, the primary member who fronts (takes control of the shared body) most often.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7, 9, 12–13** — *gʰóstipotis, a Proto-Indo-European word for a "master of guests," joined *gʰóstis, meaning "stranger, guest, enemy," with *pótis, meaning "owner, master, host, husband." It survived as an old compound made of hostis plus the root of potis, which gave Latin hospes, "a host, guest, visitor, or stranger." That passed into Old French as oste (French hôte) and into Middle English as hoste, and English has used it since the 13th century.
**Meanings 8, 11** — From Middle English oost, borrowed from Old French ost, from Latin hostis ('foreign enemy', as opposed to inimicus, a personal enemy), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis. It is a doublet of 'guest.'
**Meaning 10** — Latin hostia ("sacrificial victim") gave Old French hoiste and then Middle English host. Hostie is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/host (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).