hostler

noun

hos·​tler ˈhä-slər  ˈä- 

variants or less commonly ostler

ˈä-slər 

1

: one who takes care of horses or mules

2

: one who moves locomotives in and out of a roundhouse

also : one who services locomotives

Examples of hostler in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And then there’s also Sly Stone, the street cat, the hostler, the pimp, the conniver, sly as a fox and cold as a stone … that’s the strutter, the street dude who walks up there with that charisma that holds an audience captive, right? —Timothy Crouse, Rolling Stone, 9 June 2025

More than halfway through the film, Manny and Buck discover a formerly napping hostler, Sara. —David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Apr. 2021

Harris, who had worked as a hostler for the county sheriff, was arrested a short time later and taken to the jail on Main Street in Bel Air. —David Anderson, The Aegis, 16 May 2017

Word History

Etymology

Middle English hostiller, osteler "innkeeper, servant at an inn attending horses, person keeping horses for hire" — more at hosteler

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

hostler

noun

hos·​tler ˈäs-lər 

ˈhäs-

variants also ostler

ˈäs-

: one who takes care of horses or mules