Hostler
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A worker employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses.
"As the chaise drove through Clavering, the hostler standing whistling under the archway of the Clavering Arms, winked the postilion ominously, as much as to say all was over."
- 2 someone employed in a stable to take care of the horses wordnet
- 3 A railway worker employed to care for a locomotive or other large engine; especially, a yard jockey. US, broadly
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"As the chaise drove through Clavering, the hostler standing whistling under the archway of the Clavering Arms, winked the postilion ominously, as much as to say all was over."
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.
Related phrases
More for "hostler"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.