Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See hostler, hostlcress.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See hostler.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses; a groom

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone employed in a stable to take care of the horses

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Phonetic spelling of hostler, from late 14thC.

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Examples

Comments

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  • And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked

    Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;

    His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,

    But he loved the landlord's daughter,

    The landlord's red-lipped daughter,

    Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—

    "One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,

    But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;

    Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,

    Then look for me by moonlight,

    Watch for me by moonlight,

    I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

    From "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes

    June 14, 2011

  • Ooh! I love "The Highwayman"!

    June 14, 2011

  • Me too. Whenever I see the moon surrounded by clouds, I think of it as a "ghostly galleon."

    June 14, 2011