Definition of "hostess" []

• A woman who receives or entertains guests in a social or official capacity. (noun)
• A woman who manages an inn or hotel. (noun)
• A woman who is the emcee or interviewer on a radio or television program. (noun)
• A woman who is employed to greet and assist patrons, as in a restaurant. (noun)
• A woman who is employed to dance with customers in a dance hall or nightclub. See Usage Note at -ess. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "She lived some time with Lady Hester Stanhope, a woman as fantastic and mentally strained as herself, on the slope of Mt. Lebanon, but finally quarrelled with her in regard to two white horses with red marks on their backs which suggested the idea of saddles, on which her titled hostess expected to ride into Jerusalem with the Lord."
• "[Page 183] before engaged lodgings: they are not so pleasantly situated as those we occupied at Ilfracombe; but they are comfortable; and our hostess is a good woman, who takes pains to please us."
• "Joshua, who has flown into a fit at my use of the word hostess for Melanie, who owns this space and welcomes guests onto it, "hostess"."