hostler

[hos-ler, os-ler]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hostler ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who takes care of horses, especially at an inn.

an employee who moves and services trains, buses, or other vehicles after their regular runs or who does the maintenance work on large machines.

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. 2019

Related Words for hostler

hostler, equerry

Examples from the Web for hostler

Historical Examples of hostler

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.
The Lock And Key Library
Various

British Dictionary definitions for hostler

hostler

noun

another name (esp Brit) for ostler

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

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.