innkeeper
Americannoun
-
innkeepers
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of innkeeper
Explanation
An innkeeper is someone who owns or manages an inn. When you arrive at an inn, the innkeeper might be the person who checks you in and gives you a key to your room (and maybe a chocolate on your pillow). The earliest innkeepers ran inns in Europe during medieval times. These inns provided lodging, food, and a place for travelers to leave their horses, and an innkeeper managed all of these details. Today in the UK, some pubs call themselves inns, so you might find an innkeeper serving pints there, while in the US an inn is almost always a more charming version of a motel, run by an innkeeper.
Vocabulary lists containing innkeeper
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Often have I recalled the scene in John Buchan’s spy thriller “The 39 Steps” when the protagonist, Richard Hannay, tells his true but unlikely story to an innkeeper.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
“It’s pretty usual for us in Humboldt County to get earthquakes,” said Chappelle, who is the innkeeper of Hydrangea Inn, which was built by her great-aunt in the 1930s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
Audience members also got a glimpse of Olivia Colman as a Cockney innkeeper and Sally Hawkins as Wonka's mother.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2023
The later show, which featured Newhart as a Vermont innkeeper, ended with him waking up in Chicago next to his on-screen wife from “The Bob Newhart Show,” revealing the second series to be dream.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
We’ve heard from Basel that Bernd played the part of the innkeeper in Minna von Barnhelm.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
The innkeepers are very friendly and anxious to help you explore the island.
From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2023
A couple in upstate New York became impromptu innkeepers for South Korean tourists over the weekend after the visitors became stranded in an intense blizzard.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 26, 2022
The innkeepers are expected to wear multiple hats, and while it might sound like a daunting role, the job listing went viral around 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2022
So here’s a tip that benefits travelers, innkeepers and even travel columnists: Use the O.T.A.s to do your research, but then book directly with the travel provider.
From New York Times ● Oct. 25, 2022
He had given letters to the innkeepers everywhere, and they had promised to send them on.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
