Etymology From Middle English in, inn, from Old English inn (“a dwelling, house, chamber, lodging”); akin to Icelandic inni (“a dwelling place, home, abode”), Faroese inni (“home”).
1
Any establishment where travellers can procure lodging, food, and drink.
[H]ow much more agreeable to himself to get into snug quarters in a chateau, [...] rather than take up with the miserable lodgement, and miserable fare of a country inn.1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Adventure of My Uncle”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 21:
One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, pages 46–47:
2
A tavern.
3
One of the colleges (societies or buildings) in London, for students of the law barristers.
the Inns of Court the Inns of Chancery Serjeants’ Inns
4
UK, Dated The town residence of a nobleman or distinguished person.
Leicester Inn
5
Obsolete A place of shelter; hence, dwelling, residence, abode.
But nowe ſadde Winter welked hath the day, / And Phœbus weary of his yerely taſ-ke: / Yſtabled hath his ſteedes in lowlye laye / And taken vp his ynne in Fiſhes haſ-ke.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 44, verso:
Therefore with me ye may take vp your In / For this ſame night.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 33, page 12:
Etymology From Middle English in, inn, from Old English inn (“a dwelling, house, chamber, lodging”); akin to Icelandic inni (“a dwelling place, home, abode”), Faroese inni (“home”).
1
Obsolete To take lodging; to lodge or house oneself.
But where do you intend to inn to-night?1714 March 15 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 22. Thursday, March 5. [1714.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:
We inned at the signe of the Swan.circa 1570, Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1554/2
3 more examples
I never innd in the Towne but once.1606, Sir G. Goosecappe I, iii, in Bullen O. Pl. III
John Welch, Cornish Carrier, who formerly Inn'd at the Mermaid in Exon, is now removed to the Bear-Inn.1726, Brice's Weekly Journal, 18 February, 3:
I inned at the best house, the Star and Garter.1885, M. J. Colquhoun, Primes in Indis, I, xiv, 217:
2
Obsolete To lodge or house (someone or something).
I have but Inn'd my horse since, master Cockstone.2018 [1607], Thomas Middleton, Michaelmas term and a trick to catch the old one, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN, page 27:
These Inn'd themselves all Night in Knights-bridge Fields.1710, New Map Trav. High Church Apostle, 7, quoted in 1901, James Augustus Henry Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: part 1. H (1901), page 309