Category:Host

Host, n. Etym: [LL. hostia sacrifice, victim, from hostire to strike.] (R. C. Ch.)

Defn: The consecrated wafer, the Body of Christ, which in the Mass is offered as a sacrifice; also, the bread before consecration. The Real Presence of Jesus Christ remains in the Host after Consecration.

Note: In the Latin Vulgate the word was applied to the Savior as being an offering for the sins of men.

host Host, n. Etym: [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 Host, n. Etym: [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.]

Defn: One who receives or entertains another, whether gratuitosly 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 Host, v. t.

Defn: To give entertainment to. [Obs.] Spenser.

host Host, v. i.

Defn: To lodge at an inn; to take up entertainment. [Obs.] "Where you shall host." Shak.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Host - An entertainer (Romans 16:23); a tavern-keeper, the keeper of a caravansary (Luke 10:35). In warfare, a troop or military force. This consisted at first only of infantry. Solomon afterwards added cavalry (1 Kings 4:26; 1 Kings 10:26). Every male Israelite from twenty to fifty years of age was bound by the law to bear arms when necessary (Numbers 1:3; Numbers 26:2; 2 Chronicles 25:5). Saul was the first to form a standing army (1 Samuel 13:2; 1 Samuel 24:2). This example was followed by David (1 Chronicles 27:1), and Solomon (1 Kings 4:26), and by the kings of Israel and Judah (2 Chronicles 17:14; 2 Chronicles 26:11; 2 Kings 11:4, etc.).