▪ I. inn, n.
(ɪn)
Forms: 1– inn, 1–7 in, 3–7 inne, (3 hynne, 4 hin), 4–5 yn, 4–6 ine, ynne, (5 hyn, 6 ynn).
[OE. inn neut.:—OTeut. *inno{supm}: agreeing, exc. in stem suffix, with ON. inne, inni (:—OTeut. *innjo{supm}), f. inn, inne in adv.]
† 1. A dwelling-place, habitation, abode, lodging; a house (in relation to its inhabitant).
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 110 Þaða se steorra glad, and þa tungel-witeᵹan ᵹelædde, and him ðæs cildes inn ᵹebicnode. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 36 He for let þa ða mæneᵹeo and com to his inne [So c 1160 Hatt. Gosp.]. c 1205 Lay. 14263 Hengest..seide þæt he hafde an in iȝarked to⁓ȝeines him. a 1300 Cursor M. 4983 (Cott.) Þe yongeist..þat þai lefte at þeir fader in [Gött. fadris ine]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 334 Do crie þorgh þe toun, þat non for wele no wo, In strete [printed stete] walk vp & doun bot to þer innes go. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 115 In þe side of þe hille was þe yn of Lazarus, of Martha, and of Marie Mawdeleyn; þat toun hiȝt Bethania. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 260 Whan yche man hym dede hyr Hoom to hys yn hym to counforte. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 10 Restie welth wylth me this wydow to wyn, To let the world wag, and take mine ease in mine in. 1657 Howell Londinop. 339 Queen Mary gave this House to Nicholas Heth, Archbishop of York, and his successors for ever, to be their Inne or Lodging for their repair to London. |
† b. pl. in sing. sense. (Cf. lodgings, quarters.)
| c 1205 Lay. 14007 Þe king..sende to þan innen after al his monnen [c 1275 to þeos cnihtes hinne]. a 1300 Cursor M. 15407 Quar his innes ar to night wel i can yow bring. Ibid. 19829 (Edin.) Þai saȝ þaim fra, Þat innis þare saint petir lai. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 1 The bruys went till his Innys swyth. a 1400–50 Alexander 2920 Þis..berne..Þat here þus hyndly be þe hand ledis to his Innes. c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 381 For him he gert ane innys graithit be. c 1550 Lyndesay Descr. Peder Coffeis ii, For to by hennis reid-wod he rynnis; He lokis thame vp in to his innis. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1052 He..came suddenly upon the Turks..compassed about the Innes wherein they lay. |
† 2. Phr. to take (up) one's inn (or inns), to take up one's abode, residence, quarters; so, to have keep (one's) inn. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 372 Innan ðam ᵹeate þær Petrus inn hæfde. a 1300 Cursor M. 17650 Wit nichodeme he tok his hin. 1340 Ayenb. 195 He zent his messagyers be-uore uor to nime guod in. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 1476 Here ynnes ther ful sone thei nam. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye in Babees Bk. 308 In no kyn house þat rede mon is..Take neuer þy Innes for no kyn nede. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xlii. (1887) 257 If the imperfections which come..from the Elementary schoole would take vp their Inne there, and raunge no further. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 33 With me ye may take up your In For this same night. 1633 A. H. Partheneia Sacra 151 (T.) The phenix will lightly take up his inne no where els. |
† b. at inn: Lodged, housed, resident, put up (in some place specified or implied). Obs.
| c 1200 Ormin 12923 Þeȝȝ comenn forr to fraȝȝnenn Crist Off whære he wass att inne. Ibid. 13088 To lokenn whære he wass att inn. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5998 Wanne at an gode monnes house is men were at inne. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ix. 4 Ȝif any wiȝt wiste where do-wel was at Inne. 1553 Bradford Wks. (Parker Soc.) I. 79 Surely the devil is at inn with you, you are his birds, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach you and eat you, chaw you and champ you. 1592 Dee Diary (Camden) 41, I sent a letter..by the wagon⁓man who is at ynn at the George in Lombard streete. |
† 3. ‘Dwelling-place’, ‘abode’, ‘place of sojourn’, in various figurative uses. Obs.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5107 A sory gest..Thou herborest in thine inne The God of Love whan thou let inne. 1535 Coverdale Isa. xxxii. 18 My people shal dwel in the ynnes of peace. 1549 ―, etc. Erasm. Par. Thess. 5 The bodie is the dwelling house of the soule and the soule is the Inne of God. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass ii. (1664) 23 Plotin..blushed often, that his Soul did harbour in so base an Inn, as his Body was. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 180 Seest thou this tombe hewne in the growing stone? Tis Paula's Inne. |
4. A public house kept for the lodging and entertainment of travellers, or of any who wish to use its accommodation; a hostelry or hotel; sometimes, erroneously, a tavern which does not provide lodging.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) v. 34 Alleweyes men fynden gode innes and all that hem nedeth of Vytaylle. Ibid. xxii. 243 Thorgh the desertes..there ben Innes ordeyned be euery iorneye, to resceyue bothe man and hors. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 260/1 In, of herboroghe.., hospicium, diversorium. 1534 Tindale Luke ii. 7 She..layed him in a manger, because ther was no roume for them within in the ynne. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 33 Thai carri your letters abroid to the Bear and other commun ins. 1611 Bp. Hall Serm. v. 51 Like some Inn, that hath a Crown for the sign without..or a Rose upon the post without..or an Angel without. a 1763 Shenstone Written at an Inn at Henley v, Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round..May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn. 1809 Kendall Trav. I. xi. 122 Keeping an inn, or as it is called, a tavern. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 21 The Spanish inns..are very much in the same condition as they were in the time of the Romans. 1883 Law Times 27 Oct. 432/2 An inn or hotel is an establishment, the proprietor of which undertakes to provide for the entertainment of all comers, especially travellers. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 173 We stayed several weeks in Paris, in a quiet family inn. |
b. In figurative and allusive uses; esp. a temporary lodging as opposed to a permanent abode.
| 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 142/1 Our Lord in the parable of the Samaritane, bearing the wounded man into the Inne of his church. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 566 That Egyptian opinion, esteeming their houses their Innes, and their Sepulchres their eternal habitations. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. iii. (1739) 3 To make this Isle to be only an Inn for him to whom it was formerly given for a possession. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. ii. 29 The world is wont to be stiled not unfitly by Divines, The Christian's inne. 1668 Davenant Man's the Master i. i. Wks. 1874 V. 13 Yes, to the last inn of all travellers, where we shall meet worms instead of fleas. Lovers never rest quietly till they lodge at the sign of the grave. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xxvi, The noble and the slave..the same wild road..trode, To that dark inn, the grave! |
5. A lodging-house or house of residence for students (cf. hostel n.1 3): now Obs., exc. as retained in the names of buildings orig. so used; see b and c.
In this sense rendering L. hospitium, used from early times in the English Universities, as still earlier at Bologna and Paris; OF. hostel. The vernacular term inn occurs in the proper names of these houses from the 14th, or perhaps the 13th, century.
† a. At the Universities. Obs. (Preserved till 19th c. in the name of New Inn Hall, Oxford.)
| [1214 Let. Nicholas Bp. Tusculum to Burgenses of Oxford, Condonetur Scholaribus Oxonie studentibus medietas mercedis Hospitiorum omnium locandorum clericis in eadem villa. c 1250 Statute of Univ. Oxford (heading), De principalitatibus Hospitiorum et Scholarum.] 1346 Lett. Pat. of Edw. III, 5 Aug., De quodam messuagio vocato Take⁓leysyn. 1438 (9 Sept.) in Anstey Munim. Acad. 519–22 Hæc sunt nomina principalium aularum..Principalis aulæ Bekys-yne,..Newels-yne,..Pekwater-yne,..Takleys-ynne. c 1460 Rous Tabella aularum (in Wood City of Oxf. I. 640) Trillok Yn quod nunc dicitur Novum Hospitium, quia noviter ædificatum. [Called New Inn, in New College books, 1542.] 1577 Harrison England ii. iii. (1877) i. 87 There are also in Oxford certeine hostels or hals..the liuers in these are verie like to those that are of Ins in the chancerie [1587 their names also are these so farre as I now remember] Brodegates, Hart hall..S. Marie hall, White hall, New In, Edmond hall. 1655 Fuller Hist. Camb. 27 Know also that Inns (whereof onely two, Ovings and St. Pauls) differed onely gradually from Hostles, as being less. 1662 Wood City of Oxford I. 141 That this inne, which was afterwards, from the said Richard, called Hunsingore Inne, was an eminent receptacle for schollers. [1877 Statutes of Univ. Oxf. Commissioners (1882) 215 Statute for the Union of Balliol College and New Inn Hall.] |
b. Inns of Chancery: certain houses or sets of buildings in London, originally places of residence and study for students and apprentices of law; also the societies by which they were occupied.
From the 15th or 16th to the 18th c., these were subordinate to the Inns of Court; but they now perform no public function, though several still exist as societies possessing corporate property, the chambers being occupied by solicitors and others.
| [1348 Will of John Tavie [Thavye] in Dugdale Orig. Jurid. lxv. (1671) 271/1 Totum illud Hospicium [i.e. Thavies' Inn], in quo Apprenticii ad Legem habitare solebant. 1355 Year-bk. 29 Edw. III, lf. 47 a, Nous lauons oy souvent entre les apprentices in hostelles. (Cf. Coke's Repts. x. (1738) lf. 22 b, inter Apprenticios in Hospitiis Curiæ audivimus.)] 1458 Short Eng. Chron. (Camd. 1880, N.S. 28) 71 This yere [Anno xxxvii] was a grete fraye be twene the Cite of London and men of Courte, which were drevyn..from the Standarde in Flete strete to ther innes, the xiii day of Apreill. [a 1485 Fortescue De Laud. Leg. Ang. xlix, Decem hospitia minora..quæ nominantur hospitia Cancellariæ..majora hospitia studii illius, quæ hospitia curiæ appellantur.] 1567 R. Mulcaster ibid. (1660) 113 Ten lesser houses or Innes..which are called Innes of the Chancery..The greater Innes of the same study called the Innes of Court. 1580 Stow Annals, 36 Henry VI, The thirteenth day of Aprill there was a great fray in Fleete streete..the king committed the principall governours of Furnivalls, Cliffords, and Barnardes Inne to prison in the Castle of Hertford. 1670 Blount Law Dict., Innes of Court,..these, with the Two Serjants Inns, and Eight Inns of Chancery, do altogether (to use Sir Edward Cokes words) make the most famous University, for Profession of Law onely, or of any one Humane Science in the World. 1809 Blackstone's Comm. I. Introd. §i. 26 note, The inns of chancery are, Clifford's Inn, Clement's Inn, Lion's Inn, New Inn, Furnival's Inn, Thavies's Inn, Staple's Inn, and Barnard's Inn. These are subordinate to the inns of court; the three first belong to the Inner Temple, the fourth to the Middle Temple, the two next to Lincoln's Inn, and the two last to Gray's Inn. 1883 Wharton's Law Lex. (ed. 7), Inns of Chancery,..these were formerly preparatory colleges for students, and many entered them before they were admitted into the Inns of Court. They [now] consist chiefly of solicitors, and possess corporate property, hall, chambers, etc., but perform no public functions like the Inns of Court. |
c. Inns of Court: the four sets of buildings in London (the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn) belonging to the four legal societies which have the exclusive right of admitting persons to practise at the bar, and hold a course of instruction and examination for that purpose; hence, these four societies themselves. (Formerly also colloq. inns a court.)
The distinction of the ‘foure principall Innes’ of law as Inns of Court, was fully established in the 15th c.: see quot. a 1485 in b. But in earlier times, and sometimes later, the name Inns of Court, or its equivalent, seems to have included both the hospitia majora and hospitia minora: cf. quots. 1355, 1458, and 1580 (referring to the same event) in b, with 1548 and 1597 here.
| 1396 (June 16) Inquisitio p. mort. Henry Grey de Wilton, De Manerio suo de Portpole in Holburne vocato Greysyn. 1427 Black Booke (MS.) of Lincoln's Inn lf. 13 a, Lyncolnesyn. Manucapcio Sociorum ejusdem Hospicii. 1429–30 Ibid. lf. 22 b, Y⊇ Styward of Lyncollysyn. 1436 Ibid. lf. 31 a, The felaweshippe of Lyncoll' ynne. a 1485 [see b]. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 241 The .xxiii. daie of February wer foure readers sent for to the Starre Chamber, of every house of the foure principall Innes of Courte one. 1558 Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded. ¶ij b, Surely, Sir..it seemeth you came abruptly from a countrey schoole to an Inne of Court. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 14–15 Hee is at Oxford still, is hee not?.. Hee must then to the Innes of Court shortly: I was once of Clements Inne. 1666 Dugdale Orig. Jurid. (1671) 141/2 These Hostells being Nurseries or Seminaries of the Court, taking their denomination of the end wherefore they were so instituted, were called therefore the Innes of Court. 1698 Farquhar Love & Bottle i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 489/1 You were once an honest fellow; but so long study in the inns may alter a man strangely, as you say. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 186 ¶3 Walking the other Day in a neighbouring Inn of Court. Ibid. No. 189 ¶3 Tom, I have bought you Chambers in the Inns of Court. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 21 ¶4 Many of the Benchers of the several Inns of Court, who seem to be the Dignitaries of the Law. 1883 Chambers's Encycl. V. 584 The four inns are each governed by a committee or board, called the benchers, who are generally Queen's counsel or senior counsel. Each inn has also a local habitation, consisting of a large tract of houses or chambers which are in general occupied by barristers..and are a source of great wealth. |
| attrib. and Comb. 1631 F. Lenton Leasures xxix. F iv, A yong Innes a Court Gentleman. 1634 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 156 The mayor, a well-bred gentleman, an inns-of-court man. 1655 J. Cotgrave Wit's Interpr. 27 (N.) Much desired..by ladies, inns a court gentlemen, and others. 1826 Scott Woodst. iv, You are..an Inns-of-Court-man. |
d. Serjeants' Inn: a collegiate building of the now extinct order of Serjeants-at-Law, esp. that in Chancery Lane, sold in 1877.
| 1646 Ord. Lords & Com. Presb. Govt. 14 The classis of the two Serjants Innes. 1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 271/2 The serjeants formerly occupied three inns, or collegiate buildings..situate in Chancery Lane, Fleet Street, and Holborn. The last, called Scroop's Inn, has long been abandoned, and since the burning down of Serjeants' Inn, Fleet Street..the serjeants..have now no other building than Serjeants' Inn, Chancery Lane, which has been lately rebuilt. Ibid., In Serjeants' Inn Hall the judges and serjeants, as members of the Society of Serjeants' Inn, dine together during term-time. 1877 Law Journal 3 Mar. 117 Serjeants' Inn was sold on Friday, February 23, for 57,100l., to Mr. Serjeant Cox..The determination of the judges and serjeants to sell the ancient home of a moribund order was not taken lightly or of mere caprice... We ought to consider that places like Serjeants' Inn have now no sort of practical utility. |
¶ Some of the Inns of Chancery and of Court derive their specific names from those of noblemen or persons of quality, whose residence or property they formerly were, and from whom they were at first often rented. It has hence been sometimes assumed that the term inn here meant originally ‘the town-house or residence’ of such nobleman or gentleman, e.g. that ‘Lincoln's Inn’ meant originally ‘the Earl of Lincoln's town-house’: but there is no evidence that inn ever had any such specific sense (as distinct from its general sense of ‘habitation, lodging, house’, sense 1), and no proof that any of these houses bore the name hospitium or inn, until it was actually the hospitium or hostel of a body of students.
6. attrib. and Comb., as inn-bill, inn-door, inn-gate, inn-kitchen, inn-law, inn-phrase, inn-play, inn-stables, inn-yard; † inn-house = sense 4; inn-like a. and adv., like an inn. See also innholder, innkeeper.
| 1855 Cornwall 2 It gives no information on posting-houses or horses..on breakfasts and dinners, on waiters and *inn-bills. |
| 1765 Smollett Trav. (1766) II. xli. 258 We stood close by them at the *inndoor. |
| 1755 ― Quix. (1803) I. 144 Sancho..the *inn-gate being thrown wide open, sallied forth. |
| 1694 R. Frankland in R. Thoresby's Corr. I. 173 He..would have sent for my daughter, who was at an *inn-house. |
| 1751 Lady M. Vere in Lett. C'tess Suffolk (1824) II. 219 A prodigious house, and furnished *inn-like, two beds in each room. |
| 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxxiii, Oliver hurried up the *inn-yard, with a somewhat lighter heart. |
▪ II. inn, v. Now rare.
(ɪn)
[f. inn n. (In OE. and ME. use often not separable from in v., q.v.)]
1. trans. To lodge, house, find lodging for. refl. To lodge oneself, find oneself a lodging.
| a 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1048 Þa woldon hi innian hi þær heom sylfan ᵹelicode. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6903 So muche folc þer com, þat me nuste ware hom Inny. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2479 But eche man al niȝt inned him where he miȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1334 Whan he had broght hem in to his Citee And Inned hem euerich in his degree. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Sacram. Christ's Body 126 (Gibbs MS.) Seynt huwe..was inned for a tyme in a toune þat me clepeþ ioye. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 24 In a poor cottage inn'd, a virgin maid A weakling did Him bear, Who all upbears. 1710 New Map Trav. High Church Apostle 7 These Inn'd themselves all Night in Knights-bridge Fields. |
b. To put up (a horse) at an inn.
| 1607 Middleton Mich. Term i. i, I have but inn'd my horse. |
c. fig. (pass.) To be lodged or established.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 135 But here wey is all wronge þer wisdom is ynned. 1633 P. Fletcher Pisc. Ecl. vi. xv, A firie beam, And pleasing heat (such as in first of Spring From Sol, inn'd in the Bull, do kindly stream). |
2. intr. (? for refl.) To lodge, find lodging, sojourn; now, to put up (at an inn or hostel).
| a 1375 Joseph Arim. 166, I haue felauschupe wiþouten..wel aboute fifti, Boþe wymmen and men þat mote wiþ me Inne. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1554/2 We inned at the signe of the Swan. 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe i. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. III, I never innd in the Towne but once. 1726 Brice's Weekly Jrnl. 18 Feb. 3 John Welch, Cornish Carrier, who formerly Inn'd at the Mermaid in Exon, is now removed to the Bear-Inn. 1885 M. J. Colquhoun Primus in Indis I. xiv. 217, I inned at the best house, the Star and Garter. |
b. Of a coach: To stop or put up (at an inn).
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa Wks. 1883 VII. 315 The Reading stage-coach, which inns somewhere in Fleet Street. 1775 H. Walpole Lett. (1866) VI. 205 You had better send for them where the machine inns. 1834 New Monthly Mag. XLI. 175 A Bristol coach which inned at the Red Lion. 1879 E. Walford Londoniana II. 61 An account of all the stage coaches..where they ‘inn’ and where they ‘go out’. |
c. fig. and transf.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 454 So soon as Sol, leaving the gentle Twins, With Cancer, or thirst-panting Leo inns. 1606 Bp. Andrewes Serm. II. 205 He..dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him; not inneth or sojourneth for a time, but dwelleth continually. 1640 Quarles Enchirid. iii. 77 If Feare depart from Hope, it travels to Infidelity, and Innes in Despaire. 1839 Bailey Festus viii. (1848) 86 Wisdom sometimes inns with ignorance. |
▪ III. inn
obs. form of in prep., adv., and v.