ostler means A person employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses; a groom. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.
ostler is pronounced /ˈɒslə/.
Why “ostler” is a great word
OSTLER — [Noun] A person employed at an inn or stable to look after horses; a groom. The word is a phonetic spelling of 'hostler', from Middle English, itself from 'hostel' (an inn) with the agent suffix '-er'. First attested in the late 14th century. Unlike a “groom” (a general term for one who cares for horses) or an “innkeeper” (the manager or owner of the establishment), an ostler was a specific, lower-status employee of the hostelry. His world was the rhythmic rasp of a curry-comb in lantern-light, the calloused hand measuring out a scoop of oats, the keeper of restless stamps and muffled snorts in the dark—a stationary man in an age of motion, tending to the very engines of travel from which he was perpetually excluded.
noun
- A person employed at an inn, hostelry, or stable to look after horses; a groom.“Mr. Frank Churchill having resolved to go home directly, without waiting at all, and his horse seeming to have got a cold, Tom had been sent off immediately for the Crown chaise, and the ostler had stood out and seen it pass by, the boy going a good pace, and driving very steady.”