HOSTESS

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does hostess mean? 

• HOSTESS (noun)
  The noun HOSTESS has 3 senses:

1. a woman host

2. a woman innkeeper

3. a woman steward on an airplane

  Familiarity information: HOSTESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HOSTESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A woman host

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("hostess" is a kind of...):

host (a person who invites guests to a social event (such as a party in his or her own home) and who is responsible for them while they are there)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A woman innkeeper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("hostess" is a kind of...):

boniface; host; innkeeper (the owner or manager of an inn)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A woman steward on an airplane

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

air hostess; hostess; stewardess

Hypernyms ("hostess" is a kind of...):

flight attendant; steward (an attendant on an airplane)

 Context examples 

So am not I. I must store my plunder at this inn, since the hostess is an honest woman.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ah, be silent, said the hostess, so many prying persons have already lost their lives, it would be a pity and a shame if such beautiful eyes as these should never see the daylight again.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

An enthusiastic welcome from three big boys and several pretty children speedily soothed her ruffled feelings, and leaving Amy to entertain the hostess and Mr. Tudor, who happened to be calling likewise, Jo devoted herself to the young folks and found the change refreshing.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She began, however, seriously to turn her thoughts towards its accomplishment, and had already mentioned their wishes to their kind hostess, who resisted them with all the eloquence of her good-will, when a plan was suggested, which, though detaining them from home yet a few weeks longer, appeared to Elinor altogether much more eligible than any other.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

We feasted that evening as on nectar and ambrosia; and not the least delight of the entertainment was the smile of gratification with which our hostess regarded us, as we satisfied our famished appetites on the delicate fare she liberally supplied.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His hostess would hear nothing of his paying either for bed or for board, while the archer and Hordle John placed a hand upon either shoulder and led him off to the board, where some smoking fish, a dish of spinach, and a jug of milk were laid out for their breakfast.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The parlor windows were closed and curtained, no picture of the pretty wife sewing on the piazza, in white, with a distracting little bow in her hair, or a bright-eyed hostess, smiling a shy welcome as she greeted her guest.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)