English Explanatory Dictionary

guest

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A recipient of hospitality, especially someone staying by invitation at the house of another.
  2. A patron or customer in a hotel etc.
  3. An invited visitor or performer to an institution or to a broadcast.
  4. A user given temporary access to a system despite not having an account of their own.
  5. Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite.
  6. An inquiline.
verb
  1. To appear as a guest, especially on a broadcast.
  2. As 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).
  3. To receive or entertain hospitably.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A river in Virginia, United States, a tributary of the Clinch.
  3. An unincorporated community in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States.
  4. A visitor to any of the Disney theme parks

Pronunciation

gĕst /ɡɛst/ en-us-guest.ogg

Word forms

guest guests guesting guested

Etymology

From 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.

Derived words

be my guest cave guest guestage guest beer guest blogger guest book guest chair guestchamber guesten guestfree guestfriendliness guest-friendly guestfriendly guestfriendship guest-friendship guesthouse guest house guestish guestless guestlike guestlist guestly guestmeal guest night guest of Her Majesty guest of honour guest of honor guest ranch guest rancher guest relation officer guest room guest rope guest speaker guest star guest-star guestwise guest worker house guest houseguest mystery guest nonguest pity guest
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