the church of Rome, a name given to the elements used in the eucharist, or rather to the consecrated wafer; which they pretend to offer up every day a new host or sacrifice for the sins of mankind.—They pay adoration to the host, upon a false presumption that the elements are no longer bread and wine, but transubstantiated into the real body and blood of Christ. See Transubstantiation.—Pope Gregory IX. first decreed a bell to be rung, as the signal for the people to betake themselves to the adoration of the host.—The vessel wherein the hosts are kept is called the cibory; being a large kind of covered chalice.

Hostage,