| 释义 |
ostler|ˈɒslə(r)|
Forms: (4–9 see hosteler); 5 osteler, -eller, -iler, -elere, -elore, 6– ostler, (7 oastler).
[A phonetic spelling of hosteler, hostler, representing the historical pronunciation with h mute. In earlier times it was frequent also in the sense ‘keeper of a hostelry’ (see hosteler 2); but since 16th c. has been restricted generally to the following sense, in which it is also (now less frequently) spelt hostler, q.v. In the 1st Fol. of Shakes. ostler appears six times, hostler once, but the latter was more frequent in 18th c.]
A man who attends to horses at an inn; a stableman, a groom.
[c1386ostelers, ostilers: see hostler, 15th c. v.rr.] c1449Pecock Repr. v. vii. 521 Stabiling,..beddis, seruicis of the ostiler. 1467Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 417 My mastyr paid to the osteler of the Tabard..vij.s. viij.d. 1486Bk. St. Albans F vj b, A Laughtre of Ostelores. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 105 Bid the Ostler bring the Gelding out of the stable. 1630Wadsworth Pilgr. vi. 57 [He] supplyed the place of an Oastler in pulling of my bootes. 1784Johnson in Boswell 15 May, If Burke should go into a stable..the ostler would say, ‘We have had an extraordinary man here’. 1860R. Sullivan Spelling Book Superseded (ed. 66), Ostler, Hostler, the man who takes care of horses at a..hotel or inn. 1861Geo. Eliot Silas M. ix. 63 Let him turn ostler, and keep himself.
b. attrib., as ostler-boy. (ostler ale = hostel ale; ostler-wife = hosteler-wife.)
1715Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. xi, The ostler wife brought ben good ale. 1861C. Innes Sk. Early Scotch Hist. iii. 376 The chief drink of the castle, where ale was distinguished as ostler ale, household ale, and best ale. 1864Times 22 Nov., The cabin-boy might become the leader of armies, and the ostler-boy sit in the Senate Chamber.
c. Comb., as ostler-wise adv., after the manner of an ostler.
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 117 While rubbing down ostler-wise his master's counter.
Hence ˈostlering vbl. n., the occupation or exercise of the calling of an ostler.
1857Borrow Romany Rye (1858) I. 344 At the end of perhaps forty years ostlering. |