hoast

H4O1A1S1T1

noun

A cough.

OriginMiddle English *host ← Old Norse hósti →
Scrabble 8
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Meanings

hoast1

nounhoast (plural hoasts)

plural hoasts · alternative haust · alternative host

  1. dialectalA cough.

    in the winter time, right in the middle of the Lord's Prayer, maybe, you'd hear an outbreak of hoasts fit to lift off the roof [...].

    1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 17

hoast2

verbhoast (third-person singular simple present hoasts, present participle hoasting, simple past and past participle hoasted)

present singular third person hoasts · participle present hoasting · participle past hoasted · past hoasted · alternative haust · alternative host

  1. dialectalintransitiveTo cough.

hoast3

nounhoast (plural hoasts)

plural hoasts

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of host.
    1 more example

    After that Nero had raygned thirtene yeares: Otho and Galba one yeare, and ſix monethes: Veſpaſianus was counted a potent Pꝛince in Iudæa, amonge the armyes appoynted againſt the Ievves, and being pꝛoclaymed Emperour of the hoaſt that there was, foꝛthe with he is ſent to Rome, committing vnto his ſonne Titus the warres, in hande agaynſte the Ievves.

    1577, Eusebius, translated by Meredith Hanmer, “Of the Vtter Besieging of the Iewes after the Passion and Resurrection of Christ”, in The Auncient Ecclesiasticall Histories of the First Six Hundred Yeares after Christ, […], London: […] Thomas Vautroullier […], →OCLC, book 3, page 37
verbhoast (third-person singular simple present hoasts, present participle hoasting, simple past and past participle hoasted)

present singular third person hoasts · participle present hoasting · participle past hoasted · past hoasted

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of host.

Origin

hoast · noun

  1. Old Norsehósti“a cough”
  2. Middle English*host
  3. Englishhoast

From Middle English *host, *hoste, from Old Norse hósti (“a cough”), akin to Icelandic hósti, Swedish hosta, Danish hoste (“a cough”). More at whoost.

More words from Middle English, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →

hoast · verb

  1. Proto-Germanic*hwōstāną“to cough”
  2. Old Norsehósta“to cough”
  3. Middle English*hosten
  4. Englishhoast

From Middle English *hosten, from Old Norse hósta (“to cough”), from Proto-Germanic *hwōstāną (“to cough”).

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

hoast · noun, verb

Variant forms.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

hostaAthosshotaAshotsotahshoat
Cite this entry
APA

hoast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoast

MLA

“hoast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoast. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hoast,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hoast.

Source: hoast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.