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hostler

[hos-ler, os-ler]
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noun
  1. a person who takes care of horses, especially at an inn.
  2. an employee who moves and services trains, buses, or other vehicles after their regular runs or who does the maintenance work on large machines.
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Origin of hostler

1350–1400; Middle English; variant of hosteler
Related formshos·tler·ship, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hostler

Historical Examples

  • The hostler took the reins and Robert stepped from the wagon.

    Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times

    Charles Carleton Coffin

  • He waved his hand to me, and surrendering his horse to a hostler, entered the house.

    In Direst Peril

    David Christie Murray

  • Pauer came back, accompanied by a man who looked like a hostler.

    Despair's Last Journey

    David Christie Murray

  • But you know the fable, or story rather, of the Priest and the Hostler.

    The Book-Hunter

    John Hill Burton

  • Mrs. Fairbank remains with the hostler, and favors me with a look at parting.

British Dictionary definitions for hostler

hostler

noun
  1. another name (esp Brit) for ostler
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hostler

n.

late 14c., "one who tends to horses at an inn," also, occasionally, "innkeeper," from Anglo-French hostiler, Old French hostelier "innkeeper, steward" (12c., Modern French hôtelier), from Medieval Latin hostilarius "the monk who entertains guests at a monastery," from hospitale "inn" (see hospital). See also ostler.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper