hospitable, a.
(ˈhɒspɪtəb(ə)l)
[a. obs. F. hospitable (Cotgr. 1611), or ad. L. type *hospitābilis, f. hospitā-re: see hospitate and -ble.]
1. Offering or affording welcome and entertainment to strangers; extending a generous hospitality to guests and visitors. a. Of persons.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 3/28 Hospitable, hospitabilis. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 340 They are very hospitable one to another. 1816 Keatinge Trav. I. 330 note, The savages in America are extremely hospitable. 1859 C. Barker Assoc. Princ. i. 9 They were..hospitable to travellers. |
b. Of things, feelings, qualities, etc.
| 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 244 Then the constraint of hospitable zeale, In the releefe of this oppressed childe. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ii. (R.), His hospitable gate The richer and the poor stood open to receive. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. iv, Entertained in a most hospitable manner. 1838 Thirlwall Greece xxxviii. V. 55 He is said to have inherited his father's hospitable relation to Sparta. |
2. transf. Disposed to receive or welcome kindly; open and generous in mind or disposition.
| 1655 Evelyn Lett. 8 June, Ostende may prove as hospitable to our shippinge as Brest hath bene. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 134 We must..make our faculties as hospitable to it [God's Word] as we can. 1887 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. VIII. 86 The religion of the Greeks..was hospitable to novelties and was composite in character. |
Hence ˈhospitableness, hospitable quality or character.
| 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl., N.T. iv. xvii, Charity and hospitableness. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. (1845) 73 Such a constant kindness and hospitableness to such thoughts..they will, as it were, come to the mind without calling. a 1677 Barrow Serm. Wks. l687 I. xxxi. 428 His benignity to strangers, and hospitableness, is remarkable. |