Hostess

//ˈhoʊstɪs// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A female host.

    "The host and hostess greeted their guests at the door."

  2. 2
    a woman innkeeper wordnet
  3. 3
    A female innkeeper.
  4. 4
    a woman host wordnet
  5. 5
    Stewardess: a woman steward on an airplane.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    a woman steward on an airplane wordnet
  2. 7
    A bar hostess or bargirl; a paid female companion offering conversation and in some cases sex.
  3. 8
    A female prostitute. Philippines
Verb
  1. 1
    To host, as a woman.

    "Later in January, the alum club hostessed the initiation brunch at the Pi Beta Phi chapter house. It was thrilling to see so many girls with such enthusiasm!"

Synonyms

All synonyms
air hostessattendantbargirlbarmaidbartenderbatman

Example

More examples

"The hostess couldn't possibly put up with his arrogance."

Etymology

From Middle English hostesse, from Middle French hostesse, from Old French ostesce, made up of oste (“host”) + -esce (“feminine marker”).

Related phrases

air hostessairline hostessdance hostessflight hostesshostess barhostess dresshostess gownhostess trolleyhostess with the mostesshostess with the mostesthostess-ship

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.