11.   Even the boudoir, where a woman would receive guests in the morning, featured grand silver toilet services with ewers for water, repousse basins and glove trays.

12.   For five hours, Mrs. Peterson sat in a comfortable chair and received her guests, kissing and hugging most of them.

13.   Just before Friday prayers recently, the grand caliph was receiving guests at his modest house next to the mosque.

14.   Moreover, the Bordelais are past masters at receiving guests.

15.   No sooner was it served than the room was returned to its usual splendor to receive the guests following the entertainment.

16.   One recent evening, the sisters received guests in the cramped apartment they share with six warring cats.

17.   Our house is fairly small, and our living room is not a place reserved for receiving guests and chatting pleasantly over cups of tea.

18.   They are used for sitting up and reading, eating breakfast in bed, talking on the phone or receiving guests when one is laid up.

19.   Umar, they say, is not receiving guests today.

20.   When Mikhalkov receives guests in an office of his production company in Moscow, Gregorian chants play sonorously on a stereo.