A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing

hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt describes ...

during it. Host may also refer to:

Places

* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County

People

Jim Host Jim Host (born November 23, 1937 in Kane, Pennsylvania) is an American businessman best known for founding Host Communications, a pioneering collegiate sports-marketing and production services company that was acquired by IMG (company), IMG in 20 ...

(born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host (1942–2021), French writer *"Host", an author abbreviation in botany for

Nicolaus Thomas Host Nicolaus Thomas Host (December 6, 1761 in Fiume, now Rijeka – January 13, 1834 in Schönbrunn) was a Croatian botanist and the personal physician of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. His botanical works include ''Synopsis plantarum in Austria'' ...

Arts, entertainment, and media

Fictional entities

* Hosts (''World of Darkness''), fictional characters in game ''Werewolf: The Forsaken'' *Hosts, alien invaders and overlords in the TV series ''

Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

'' * Armies and hosts of Middle-earth warfare, fictional entities in J.R.R. Tolkien's works *

Avenging Host ''Earth X'' is a 1999 comic book limited series published by American company Marvel Comics. ''Earth X'' was written by Jim Krueger with art by John Paul Leon. Based on Alex Ross' notes, the series features a dystopian version of the Marvel ...

, a group of characters in Marvel Comics' ''Earth X'' series of comic books * Rutan Host, fictional aliens from ''Doctor Who''

Film

* ''Host'' (film), a 2020 horror film directed by Rob Savage

Literature

*''Host'', the third novel in the

Rogue Mage series The ''Rogue Mage'' series of Fantasy literature, fantasy novels were written by American author Faith Hunter about races of beings inhabiting a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Earth of the not-too distant future. Some of ...

by Faith Hunter *''Host'', a 1993 book by Peter James * ''Hosts'' (novel), a 2001 book written by American author F. Paul Wilson *'' The Hosts of Rebecca'', a 1960 novel by Alexander Cordell about the Rebecca Riots

Music

* H.O.S.T., an influential hip-hop group in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

* ''Host'' (Critters Buggin album), 1996 * ''Host'' (Paradise Lost album), 1999 * ''Host'' (Cults album), 2020 *"Host", a song from the b-side of the 1999 single "

Cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

" by Muse

Computing and technology

Host (network) A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A host may work as a server offering information resources, services, and applications to users or other hosts on the network. Hosts are assigned at least one network a ...

, a computer connected to the Internet or another IP-based network **

hosts (file) The computer file hosts is an operating system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses. It is a plain text file. Originally a file named HOSTS.TXT was manually maintained and made available via file sharing by Stanford Research Institute for the ...

, a computer file to be used to store information on where to find an internet host on a computer network **

host (Unix) host is a simple utility for performing Domain Name System lookups. Origin It was developed by the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), and is released under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. Modes When applied to a fully qualified domain name (FQ ...

, a command-line Unix command **

Internet hosting service An Internet hosting service is a service that runs servers connected to the Internet, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content or host services connected to the Internet. A common kind of hosting is web hosting. Most hosting provi ...

, a service that runs Internet servers allowing organizations and individuals to serve content to the Internet **

Virtual host Virtual hosting is a method for hosting multiple domain names (with separate handling of each name) on a single server (or pool of servers). This allows one server to share its resources, such as memory and processor cycles, without requiring all ...

, allowing several DNS names to share the same IP address *Host, in

hardware virtualization Hardware virtualization is the virtualization of computers as complete hardware platforms, certain logical abstractions of their componentry, or only the functionality required to run various operating systems. Virtualization hides the physica ...

, a machine on which a virtual machine runs *

Cross compiler A cross compiler is a compiler capable of creating executable code for a platform other than the one on which the compiler is running. For example, a compiler that runs on a PC but generates code that runs on an Android smartphone is a cross c ...

, also called a "host", a computer platform on which software development is done for a different target computer platform *

UOL HOST UOL HOST is a website hosting and cloud computing firm that it is owned and operated by Universo Online (UOL) Holding. UOL HOST's head office is based in São Paulo. Davi M. Mello is UOL HOST's director. History UOL HOST was established in 2008 ...

, Universal Online's HOST webhosting service

Groups or formations

* Host, an archaic military term for an

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

* Host, a great number;

multitude Multitude is a term for a group of people who cannot be classed under any other distinct category, except for their shared fact of existence. Though its use dates back to antiquity, the term first entered into the lexicon of political philosophy w ...

Cossack host A Cossack host ( uk, козацьке військо, translit=kozatske viisko; russian: каза́чье во́йско, ''kazachye voysko''), sometimes translated as Cossack army, was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in the Russian Em ...

, military formations of Eastern Europe *Furious Host or the

Wild Hunt The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif (Motif E501 in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature) that occurs in the folklore of various northern European cultures. Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by ...

, a European folk myth

Religion

Heavenly host Heavenly host ( he, צבאות ''sabaoth'' or ''tzva'ot'', "armies") refers to the army () of angels mentioned both in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, as well as other Jewish and Christian texts. The Bible gives several descriptions of angels ...

, an "army" of good angels in Heaven *

Lord of hosts Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim ("God," a plural noun), Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot (" fHosts"); some also include Ehyeh ("I Will Be").This is the ...

, a common epithet of the God of the Old Testament *

Sacramental bread Sacramental bread, also called Communion bread, Eucharistic bread, the Lamb or simply the host ( la, hostia, lit=sacrificial victim), is the bread used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist. Along with sacramental wine, it is one of two elemen ...

, called the host or ''hostia'', used in Christian liturgy

Roles

* Host (radio), the presenter or announcer on a radio show * Television presenter, the host or announcer on a television show *

Casino host A casino host is employed by a casino to deliver services to gamblers to help ensure that they become loyal patrons. Nature of the work A casino host will usually try their best to please patrons of their casino and will do their best to fulfill ...

*Host, a paid male companion at a

host club A hostess club is a type of night club found primarily in Japan. They employ primarily female staff and cater to men seeking drinks and attentive conversation. The modern host club is a similar type of establishment where primarily male staff att ...

offering conversation and entertainment, primarily in East Asia *

Maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

(Maître d') or head waiter of a restaurant or hotel * Master of ceremonies *

Talk show host Below is a list of talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television T ...

, a presenter of a TV or radio talk show

Science

Host (biology) In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include a ...

, an organism harboring another organism or organisms on or in itself * Host (psychology), personality as emphasized in treating dissociative identity disorder * Host (astronomy), the interactions and analysis of a star-planet relationship