Hostie

//ˈhəʊsti// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    the consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist, host. Scotland, obsolete

    "1694 August 9, James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, Letter XII, in 1845, William Jerdan (editor), Letters from James, Earl of Perth, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, &c, to His Sister, Countess of Erroll, and Other Members of His Family, page 40, This Hostie* is carryed about the streets in procession : and really it is very fine to see the solemnity."

  2. 2
    An air hostess. Australia, informal

    "A lovely hostie approached my seat, `Mr. Vautin, just looking at you makes me think we might need a forklift to get you off the plane.'"

Example

More examples

"1694 August 9, James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth, Letter XII, in 1845, William Jerdan (editor), Letters from James, Earl of Perth, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, &c, to His Sister, Countess of Erroll, and Other Members of His Family, page 40, This Hostie* is carryed about the streets in procession : and really it is very fine to see the solemnity."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French hostie, from Latin hostia.

Etymology 2

From hostess + -ie (“diminutive suffix”).

Related phrases

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