hostess

plural hostesses

1. A female host.

   The host and hostess greeted their guests at the door.

   1 more example

   The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.

   2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

2. A female innkeeper.
3. Stewardess: a woman steward on an airplane.
4. A bar hostess or bargirl; a paid female companion offering conversation and in some cases sex.
5. PhilippinesA female prostitute.

   Synonyms: girl rented overnight

present singular third person hostesses · participle present hostessing · participle past hostessed · past hostessed

1. To host, as a woman.

   Later in January, the alum club hostessed the initiation brunch at the Pi Beta Phi chapter house. It was thrilling to see so many girls with such enthusiasm!

   1975, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, volume 92, number 2, page 69

   2 more examples

   Over the years she has maintained a close relationship with several former students. Currently, she alternates between visiting and hostessing two in Roanoke and Greenville, N.C., respectively, and is a proud godgrandmother to one’s new baby.

   1986 fall, MWC Today, volume 11, number 1, page 21, column 1

   Dad and I had left early to make sure to get a booth in the back. But when I got there, Teddy Selander’s older sister was hostessing and she said, ‘You’re meeting Dean West? He’s sitting right over here,’ loud enough for everyone to hear.

   2009, Eireann Corrigan, Accomplice, Frome, Som: The Chicken House, published 2010, →ISBN, page 161