Host (hōst), 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.
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&hand_; In the Latin Vulgate the word was applied to the Savior as being an offering for the sins of men.
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Host (hōst), 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.
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Time is like a fashionable host,
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand. Shak.
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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.]

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