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.
⇒ 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.
© Webster 1913.
Inn (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Inned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Inning.]
To take lodging; to lodge.
[R.]
Addison.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.