hostlers

Noun

hostler (plural hostlers)

1. A worker employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses.
   • As the chaise drove through Clavering, the hostler standing whistling under the archway of the Clavering Arms, winked the postilion ominously, as much as to say all was over.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850...

   Synonyms:

   groom

2. (US, broadly) A railway worker employed to care for a locomotive or other large engine; especially, a yard jockey.
   • The employees contend that inasmuch as there are seven engines hostled at Sleepy Eye within a 12-hour period, a hostler from the ranks of the firemen must be assigned […]1924, Decisions of the United States Railroad Labor Board, page 732

   Synonyms:

   switcher, shunter

See all 3 meanings of hostler