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Guests or visitors, in distinction from the members of a family; as, to invite company to dine.

Silent. [R.] "The guests sit conticent." Thackeray.

innkeepers for drawing the cork and taking care of bottles of wine bought elsewhere by a guest.

, the table furniture for the use of one person at a meal; as, covers were laid for fifty guests. To break cover, to start from a covert or lair; -- said of game. -- Under cover, in an envelope, or within a letter; -- said of a written message. Letters . . . dispatched under cover to her ladyship. Thackeray.…

The high or principal table, at the end of a hall, at which the chief guests were seated; also, the chief seat at the high table. [Obs.]

One who draws liquor for guests; a waiter in a taproom. Shak.

ption and maintenance to; to receive at one's board, or into one's house; to receive as a guest. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained unawares. Heb. xiii. 2.

th which one is entertained; as: (a) Hospitality; hospitable provision for the wants of a guest; especially, provision for the table; a hospitable repast; a feast; a formal or elegant meal. (b) That which engages the attention agreeably, amuses or diverts, whether in private, as by conversation, etc., or in public, by…

h or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions. Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger. Milton.

its inhabitants. On the European plain, having rooms to let, and leaving it optional with guests whether they will take meals in the house; -- said of hotels. [U. S.]

sion; elusive; shuffling; avoiding by artifice. Thus he, though conscious of the ethereal guest, Answered evasive of the sly request. Pope. Stammered out a few evasive phrases. Macaulay. -- E*va"sive*ly , adv. -- E*va"sive*ness, n.

tate of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen. "In expectation of a guest." Tennyson. My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. Ps. lxii. 5.

as, fashionable society. Time is like a fashionable host That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand. Shak.

A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food. Enough is as good as a feast. Old Proverb. Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. Dan. v. 1.

ake proper for the reception or use of any person; to prepare; as, to fit up a room for a guest.

A guest. [Obs.] Chaucer.

ossession. Bouvier. Burrill. Gift rope (Naut), a rope extended to a boat for towing it; a guest rope.

A buffoon in the Middle Ages, who attended rich men's tables to make sport for the guests by ribald stories and songs.

ing familiarly. [Archaic] Chaucer. Say ye to the goodman of the house, . . . Where is the guest-chamber Mark xiv. 14.

To afford lodging to; to enter as guest; to receive; to give a refuge to; indulge or cherish (a thought or feeling, esp. an ill thought). Any place that harbors men. Shak. The bare suspicion made it treason to harbor the person suspected. Bp. Burnet. Let not your gentle breast harbor one thought of outrage. Rowe.…