hostler
UK /ˈ(h)ɒs.lə/ · US /ˈ(h)ɑs.lɚ/ noun, proper noun
Also a form of ostler
Forms hostlers ostler
- noun A worker employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses.
- noun (by extension, US) A railway worker employed to care for a locomotive or other large engine; especially, a yard jockey.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English hostiler, from Middle French hostiler, from Old French hostelier, from Medieval Latin hostilārius, hospitālārius, from hospitāle "inn", from hospitālis "hospitable", from hospes "host, guest". Both hostler and its alternative form ostler originally meant simply "innkeeper", and acquired a specific association with horses in the second half of the 14th century. Doublet of hosteler and hotelier.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An innkeeper. [Obs.] See Hosteler.
- noun The person who has the care of horses at an inn or stable; hence, any one who takes care of horses; a groom; --so called because the innkeeper formerly attended to this duty in person.
Etymology [OE. hosteler, osteler, innkeeper, OF. hostelier, F. hôtelier. See Hostel, and cf. Hospitaler, Hosteler.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hostler”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details