Word: caravanserai Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Borrowed either: * from Middle French carvansera, carvassera (modern French caravansérail, carauanserrail (obsolete), caravansara (obsolete)); or * directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish كاروانسَرای (karvanseray), كَروانسَرای (kervanseray) (modern Turkish kervansaray), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (kārvān-serā); or * directly from its etymon Persian کاروانسرای (kârvânsarây), from کاروان (kârvân, “caravan; convoy”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”)) + سرای (sarây, “courtyard, hall; dwelling, house; inn; mansion, palace”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- (“to cross over; to pass through; to overcome”). Cognates * Dutch karavanserai, carewansera (obsolete) * German Karawanserei, Caravansera (obsolete) * Italian caravanserraglio, carvasarà (obsolete), carvanserà (obsolete) * Portuguese caravançará, caravançarai * Spanish caravasar Pronunciation: /ˌkæɹəˈvænsəɹaɪ/, /ˌkɛɹəˈvænsəˌɹaɪ/ 1. A roadside inn, usually having a central courtyard where caravans (see sense 3) can rest, providing accommodation for travellers along trade routes in Asia and North Africa. Labels: historical Example: A dervise travelling through Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by mistake, as thinking it to be a public inn, or caravansary. […] It happened that the king himself passed through the gallery during this debate, and, smiling at the mistake of the dervise, asked him how he could possibly be so dull as not to distinguish a palace from a caravansary? […] 'Ah, Sir,' said the dervise, a house that changes its inhabitants so often, and receives such a perpetual succession of guests, is not a palace, but a caravansary.' Example: But not in sumptuous Caravansary / The adventurer idles there, / Nor satiates wonder with her pomp and wealth; […] 2. A place resembling a caravanserai (sense 1) as being a place for resting temporarily, or a meeting place (especially one that is busy, or where people of different cultures encounter each other). Labels: broadly Example: Conſider, I beſeech you, vvhat proviſion and accommodation, the Author of our being has prepared for us, that vve might not go on our vvay ſorrovving—hovv many caravanſera's of reſt—vvhat povvers and faculties he has given us for taking it—vvhat apt objects he has placed in our vvay to entertain us; […] Example: They stopped at the most memorable places, and at last arrived at Rome, where a princess vacated her palace for their accommodation and so many louis-d'or a-month. Rome, once the mistress, is now the caravanseray of the world. 3. Synonym of caravan (“a convoy of travellers, their cargo and vehicles, and pack animals”). Labels: broadly Example: There they go, our brothers who have been educated at public schools and universities, mounting those steps, passing in and out of those doors,[…]. It is a solemn sight always—a procession, like a caravanserai crossing a desert. 4. A hostelry, an inn; also (humorous), an (upscale) hotel. Labels: archaic, broadly Example: By the bye it is as well to mention, for the benefit of the inexperienced, that there are no Inns in Ireland; all are hotels, from the lowest road cabin to the splendid caravanserai, with all its appurtenances of luxury and ease. Example: Six anxious inquiries of marble-fronted-hotel clerks about rates; and twice when she angrily made it plain she couldn't afford it, and quit the caravanserai where Andy and Mahala and Mrs Boyle were to loll in kitchenette-bedizened splendor and hunted up a smaller hotel that looked like a private house with obesity.