innkeeper
(ˈɪnˌkiːpə(r))
Forms: see inn n.
[f. inn n. 4 + keeper n.]
One who keeps an inn or public house for the accommodation of travellers and others; an innholder, a taverner.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke x. Q iij, [He] deliuered thim to his hoste the ynnekeper that he should see the wounded man well attended and kepte. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 51 The Red-Nose Inne-keeper of Dauintry. 1779 Swinburne Trav. Spain xlii. 372 In Spain..the inn-keepers are almost the only well-fed, portly figures to be met with. 1845 Stephen Comm. Laws Eng. (1874) II. 84 A common innkeeper—which includes the keeper of every tavern or coffeehouse in which lodging is provided. |
| fig. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 52 Solitariousenes, whyche lurketh in holes and corners, [and] Night an vngratiouse couer of noughtynesse, whyche two thynges be very Inkepers and receyuers of all noughtynesse and noughtye thinges. |
Hence
ˈinnˌkeeperess,
rare, a female innkeeper. So also
ˈinnˌkeeping n., the keeping of an inn (also
attrib.);
adj. that keeps an inn.
| 1860 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. 121 Anybody who wishes to speculate in the innkeeping line. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 126 The general progress of society rendered inn⁓keeping increasingly prosperous. 1895 Mrs. Donne Down Danube 46 An old peasant Inn-keeperess told us. |