Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Inn?

\Inn\, n. [AS. in, inn, house, chamber, inn, from AS. in in; akin to Icel. inni house. See {In}.] 1. A place of shelter; hence, dwelling; habitation; residence; abode. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Therefore with me ye may take up your inn For this same night. --Spenser. 2. A house for the lodging and entertainment of travelers or wayfarers; a tavern; a public house; a hotel. Note: As distinguished from a private boarding house, an inn is a house for the entertainment of all travelers of good conduct and means of payment,as guests for a brief period,not as lodgers or boarders by contract. The miserable fare and miserable lodgment of a provincial inn. --W. Irving. 3. The town residence of a nobleman or distinguished person; as, Leicester Inn. [Eng.] 4. One of the colleges (societies or buildings) in London, for students of the law barristers; as, the Inns of Court; the Inns of Chancery; Serjeants' Inns. {Inns of chancery} (Eng.), colleges in which young students formerly began their law studies, now occupied chiefly by attorneys, solicitors, etc. {Inns of court} (Eng.), the four societies of ``students and practicers of the law of England'' which in London exercise the exclusive right of admitting persons to practice at the bar; also, the buildings in which the law students and barristers have their chambers. They are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn.
\Inn\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Inned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Inning}.] To take lodging; to lodge. [R.] --Addison.
\Inn\, v. t. 1. To house; to lodge. [Obs.] When he had brought them into his city And inned them, everich at his degree. --Chaucer. 2. To get in; to in. See {In}, v. t.