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guest

Pronunciation: /gɛst/

Translate guest | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of guest

noun

  • 1a person who is invited to visit someone’s home or attend a particular social occasion:I have two guests coming to dinner tonight [as modifier]:the guest list
  • a person invited to participate in an official event:he was in Warsaw as a guest of the Polish government [as modifier]:a guest speaker
  • a person invited to take part in a radio or television programme or other entertainment:a regular guest on the morning show
  • 2a person staying at a hotel or guest house:a reduction for guests staying seven nights or more
  • chiefly US a customer at a restaurant.
  • 3 Entomology a small invertebrate that lives unharmed within an ants' nest.

verb

[no object] informal
  • appear as a temporary or visiting performer or participant in a television or radio programme or other entertainment:he guested on the show two weeks ago

Phrases

be my guest

informal please do:May I choose the restaurant? Be my guest!

guest of honour

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 in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of guest in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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