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. [ 1913 Webster ]

A host so great as covered all the field. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any great number or multitude; a throng. [ 1913 Webster ]

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. Luke ii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

All at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To give entertainment to. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the Latin Vulgate the word was applied to the Savior as being an offering for the sins of men. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] 1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Time is like a fashionable host,
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. To lodge at an inn; to take up entertainment. [ Obs. ] “Where you shall host.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A genus of robust East Asian clump-forming perennial herbs having racemose flowers: plantain lilies; sometimes placed in the family Hostaceae.
Syn. -- genus Hosta, Funka, genus Funka. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. One of many families or subfamilies into which some classification systems subdivide the Liliaceae but not widely accepted; includes genus Hosta.
Syn. -- family Hostaceae, Funkaceae, family Funkaceae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. hostage, OF. hostage, ostage, F. ôtage, LL. hostaticus, ostaticum, for hospitaticum, fr. L. hospes guest, host. The first meaning is, the state of a guest, hospitality; hence, the state of a hostage (treated as a guest); and both these meanings occur in Old French. See Host a landlord. ] A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or stipulations of any kind, on the performance of which the person is to be released. [ 1913 Webster ]

Your hostages I have, so have you mine;
And we shall talk before we fight. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. hostel, ostel, OF. hostel, ostel, LL. hospitale, hospitalis, fr. L. hospitalis. See Hospital, and cf. Hotel. ] 1. An inn. [ Archaic ] Poe. [ 1913 Webster ]

So pass I hostel, hall, and grange. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge. [ Obs. ] Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Hostel, and cf. Hostler. ] 1. The keeper of a hostel or inn. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A student in a hostel, or small unendowed collede in Oxford or Cambridge. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]