hostel
UK/ˈhɒstəl//ˈhɑstəl/
hostel noun: an overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
Noun
hostel (plural hostels)
- An overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
- a rundown hostel
- The rest, around the hostel fire, / Their drowsy limbs recline; / For pillow, underneath each head, / The quiver and the targe were laid: / Deep slumbering on the hostel floor, / Oppressed with toil and ale, / they snore: […]1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London...
- A temporary refuge for the homeless providing a bed and sometimes food.
- A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge.
- There are also in Oxford certeine hostels or hals, which may rightwell be called by the names of colleges , if it were not that there is more libertie in them , than is to be seen in the other1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC
- A public hotel.
- Immediately at hand was a small, mean public-house - one of those dingy establishments that seem to express, by their morbid and retiring appearance, a certain anxiety to escape the eye of the police - and into the parlour of this hostel Quin promptly led the way.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 135
- A university or school dormitory, a place of accommodation for students.
Verb
hostel (third-person singular simple present hostels, present participle (US) hosteling or (UK) hostelling, simple past and past participle (US) hosteled or (UK) hostelled)
- To stay in a hostel during one's travels.
- To lodge (a person) in a hostel.
hostel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hostel in Hindi
- place of accommodation for students
- छात्रावास chātrāvās, हॉस्टल hŏsṭal
hostel in Tamil
- an affordable overnight lodging place
- விடுதி viṭuti
- place of accommodation for students
- விடுதி viṭuti, ஹாஸ்டல் hāsṭal
hostel in Marathi
- वसतिगृह, वसतीगृह
hostel in Urdu
- سرائے
More languagesFewer languages
- hostel in Bengali
- ছাত্রাবাস, সরাই, হসটেল
- hostel in Telugu
- వసతిగృహం
- hostel in Malayalam
- വിദ്യാർത്ഥികൾക്കും മറ്റുമുള്ള പാർപ്പിടം
- hostel in Kannada
- ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ ನಿಲಯ, ವಸತಿಗೃಹ, ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ಭವನ, ತಂಗುಮನೆ
- hostel in Punjabi
- ਹੋਸਟਲ
- hostel in Gujarati
- ગૃહ gŕh
- hostel in Odia
- ହଷ୍ଟେଲ୍, ହଷ୍ଟେଲ, ଛାତ୍ରାବାସ
- hostel in Nepali
- छात्रावास, होस्टेल, वसतिगृह
- hostel in Arabic
- نُزُل nuzul, أُوتِيل ʔōtēl
- hostel in Indonesian
- losmen
- hostel in Thai
- หอพัก hɔ̌ɔ-pák
- hostel in Vietnamese
- nhà nghỉ
Examples of hostel in a sentence
- I had an early dinner because the breakfast in this hostel is superb.
- Sometimes they used to hide in our hostels, trying to run away from the police.
- Visitors can explore the Calf as day visitors or can stay in the hostel accommodation. . .
Forms of hostel
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hostels |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hostels |
| present participle US | hosteling |
| present participle UK | hostelling |
| past participle US | hosteled |
| past US | hosteled |
| past participle UK | hostelled |
| past UK | hostelled |
Origin of hostel
From Middle English hostel, from Old French hostel, ostel, from Late Latin hospitale (“hospice”), from Classical Latin hospitalis (“hospitable”) itself from hospes (“host”) + -alis (“-al”). Doublet of hotel and hospital. Not in use from late 17th c. (in the usual sense from mid 16th c.) to 1808, when it was revived by Walter Scott in his poem Marmion (see the quotation).
Words formed from hostel
Words that rhyme with hostel
Questions about hostel
- What does hostel mean?
- Hostel means an overnight lodging place for travelers, with dormitory accommodation and shared facilities, especially a youth hostel.
- What is hostel in Hindi?
- Hostel in Hindi is छात्रावास (chātrāvās), हॉस्टल (hŏsṭal). See Hostel meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hostel?
- Hostel can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hostel?
- Hostel is pronounced /ˈhɑstəl/ (US).
- What is the plural of hostel?
- The plural of hostel is hostels.
Words near hostel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hostel (page history and authors); hostel (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hostel (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hostel (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hostel (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hostel (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hostel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hostel (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ગૃહ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); hostel (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hostel (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-hostel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hostel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hostel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.