guest

views updated Jun 11 2018

guest / gest/ • n. a person who is invited to visit the home of or take part in a function organized by another: I have two guests coming to dinner tonight | [as adj.] a guest bedroom. ∎  a person invited to participate in an official event: the bishop went to Cuba as a guest of the Catholic Church | [as adj.] a guest speaker. ∎  a person invited to take part in a radio or television program, sports event, or other entertainment: a regular guest on the morning show | [as adj.] a guest appearance. ∎  a person lodging at a hotel or boardinghouse: a reduction for guests staying seven nights or more. ∎  a customer at a restaurant. ∎  Entomol. a small invertebrate that lives unharmed within an ants' nest.• v. [intr.] inf. appear as a guest: he guested on one of her early albums.PHRASES: be my guest inf. please do: May I choose the restaurant? Be my guest!guest of honor the most important guest at an occasion.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old Norse gestr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gast and German Gast, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin hostis ‘enemy’ (originally ‘stranger’).

guest

views updated May 29 2018

guest XIII. — ON. gestr; superseding OE. ġ(i)est = OS., OHG. (Du., G.) gast, Goth. gasts :- Gmc. *ðastiz :- IE. *ghostis, repr. also by L. hostis enemy, orig. stranger, OSl. gostǐ guest, friend, and perh. by Gr. xénos stranger.

guest

views updated Jun 27 2018

guest A user who is able to log into a site without the use of a password.

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