hostler

See also: Hostler

English

WOTD – 13 January 2008

Alternative forms

• ostler

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)ɒs.lə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈ(h)ɑs.lɚ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɒslə

Noun

hostler (plural hostlers)

1. A worker employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses; a groom.
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     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. (by extension, US) A railway worker employed to care for a locomotive or other large engine; especially, a yard jockey.

   Synonym: switcher — US; Synonym: shunter — UK

Synonyms

• groom

Related terms

• hostelry

Translations

person at an inn who looks after horses

• Azerbaijani: mehtər (az), atabaxan, sayis
• Bulgarian: коняр m (konjar)
• Dutch: staljongen (nl) m
• Hebrew: סַיָּס (he) m (sayás)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: seyîs (ku)

• Latin: agāsō m
• Macedonian: ко́њушар m (kónjušar), ко́њар m (kónjar)
• Polish: stajenny (pl) m
• Russian: ко́нюх (на постоя́лом дворе́) m (kónjux (na postojálom dvoré))
• Swedish: värdshusvärd (sv) c
• Turkish: seyis (tr)

person employed to care for a locomotive

• Polish: parowozowy (pl) m
• Russian: ремонтный слесарь (remontnyj slesarʹ) (remóntny slésar')
• Swedish: underhållsarbetare c
• Turkish: makinist (tr)

See also

• hosteler

Anagrams

• Holters, Hetlors, holster, orthels

Middle English

Noun

hostler

1. Alternative form of hostiler