hostel

American  

[hos-tl] / ˈhɒs tl /

noun

1. Also called youth hostel.  an inexpensive, supervised lodging place for young people on bicycle trips, hikes, etc.

2. (formerly) a residence for the exclusive use of boarding Indigenous students, separate from but close to any of a series of day schools in northern Canada that were operated or funded by the federal government and were themselves open to students of any ethnicity.

3. British. a student residence at a university or boarding school.

4. an inn.

---

verb (used without object)

hosteled, hosteling, hostelled, hostelling

1. to travel, lodging each night at a hostel.

hostel British  

/ ˈhɒstəl /

noun

1. a building providing overnight accommodation, as for the homeless, etc

2. See youth hostel

3. a supervised lodging house for nurses, workers, etc

4. archaic another word for hostelry

---

Etymology

Origin of hostel

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English (h)ostel, from Old French, from Late Latin hospitāle “guest room”; hospital

Example Sentences

One was an international student who had to live in a hostel for a week after being left without accommodation at the last minute.

From BBC

She plans to stay in South Korea for a few more weeks until BTS’s next show in a Seoul suburb next month, volunteering to work at a hostel to save on lodging costs.

From The Wall Street Journal

This building was barely a hostel, and a spare one at that.

From Literature

The teen had been working at a backpacker's hostel in the weeks before her death and had told friends she was going for an early morning swim.

From BBC

He keeps hens in his hostel room and dreams up improbable schemes to transform India - including planting trees along railway tracks, fertilised by waste from passing trains.

From BBC

Related Words

• hotel
• inn