From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
hostel
n 1: a hotel providing overnight lodging for travelers [syn:
hostel, hostelry, inn, lodge, auberge]
2: inexpensive supervised lodging (especially for youths on
bicycling trips) [syn: hostel, youth hostel, {student
lodging}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Hostel \Hos"tel\, n. [OE. hostel, ostel, OF. hostel, ostel, LL.
hospitale, hospitalis, fr. L. hospitalis. See Hospital, and
cf. Hotel.]
1. An inn. [Archaic] --Poe.
[1913 Webster]
So pass I hostel, hall, and grange. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
2. A small, unendowed college in Oxford or Cambridge. [Obs.]
--Holinshed.
[1913 Webster]