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