A no-show is a confirmed reservation where the guest never arrives and never cancels. It hurts more than a regular cancellation because the room stays blocked until the last moment, usually too late to resell it.
Most hotels define the cut-off in their policy: if the guest has not arrived by the night audit, the reservation is marked as a no-show and, if guaranteed, charged one night (or whatever the terms state).
In practice: guaranteeing reservations with a card or a deposit is the most effective protection. Track your no-show rate by channel and by rate plan: if one source consistently no-shows, that is a reason to tighten its guarantee rules or to factor it into an overbooking forecast.
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