hostel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers
    lodge; auberge; hostelry; inn.
  2. noun inexpensive supervised lodging (especially for youths on bicycling trips)
    student lodging; youth hostel.

WordNet

Hos"tel noun
Etymology
OE. hostel, ostel, OF. hostel, ostel, LL. hospitale, hospitalis, fr. L. hospitalis. See Hospital, and cf. Hotel.
Definitions
  1. An inn. Archaic Poe.
    So pass I hostel, hall, and grange. Tennyson.
  2. A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge. Obs. Holinshed.

Webster 1913