/ɡɛst/
OriginFrom Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr, which replaced or was merged with Old English ġiest, both from Proto-Germanic *gastiz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, host, someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality”).
Cognate with Bavarian Gåst (“guest”), Dutch gast (“guest”), German Gast (“guest”), Luxembourgish Gaascht (“guest”), Vilamovian gost (“guest”), Yiddish גאַסט (gast, “guest”), Danish gæst (“guest, visitor”), Faroese, Icelandic gestur (“guest”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk gjest (“guest”), Swedish gäst (“guest”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (gasts, “guest”). Doublet of host, from Latin.
- A recipient of hospitality, especially someone staying by invitation at the house of another.
“The guests were let in by the butler.”
“We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. We passed on the way the van of the guests from Asquith.”
- A patron or customer in a hotel etc.
“Guests must vacate their rooms by 10 o'clock on their day of departure.”
- An invited visitor or performer to an institution or to a broadcast.
“special guest”
“The guest for the broadcast was a leading footballer.”
- A user given temporary access to a system despite not having an account of their own.
- Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite.
- An inquiline.
- intransitiveTo appear as a guest, especially on a broadcast.
“During the '60s, he guested as off-beat characters on TV shows like "The Asphalt Jungle," "Bus Stop," and "The Detectives."”
“Jimmy Fallon’s Trump impression struggled to match up to the real thing when Trump guested on his show.”
- intransitiveAs a musician: to play as a guest, providing an instrument that a band/orchestra does not normally have in its line up (for instance, percussion in a string band).
“Oldest son Trey, from Will's first marriage, paved the way for his sibling's stardom when he guested on his dad's hit rap album, Big Willie Style, lending some precocious dialogue to the beginning of ”
- obsolete, transitiveTo receive or entertain hospitably.
“Two Angels sent Two Heav'nly Scowts the Lord to Sodom sent ; downe , received and guested”
- A surname.
“The vote was 213-209 along party lines. Republican members of the House Ethics Committee – Michael Guest of Mississippi, Dave Joyce of Ohio, Andrew Garbarino of New York, John Rutherford of Florida an”
- A river in Virginia, United States, a tributary of the Clinch.
- An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States.
- A visitor to any of the Disney theme parks
Formsguests(plural) · guests(present, singular, third-person) · guesting(participle, present) · guested(participle, past) · guested(past)