Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Motel |
MotelNoun1. A hotel for motorists; provides direct access from rooms to parking area. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Motel" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "Marduk's servant". |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The word motel originates from the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo, first built in 1925 by Arthur Heinman. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the motel (aka the motor hotel) referred initially to a single building of connected rooms whose doors face a parking lot and/or common area, and their creation was the outcome of the creation of the United States highway system which predated the Interstate highway system and allowed easy cross-country travel.Unlike their predecessors, auto camps and tourist courts, motels quickly adopted a homogenized appearance. Typically one would find an 'I' or 'L' or 'U' shaped structure that included rooms, an attached manager's office, and perhaps a small diner. Even so, postwar motels often featured eye-catching neon signs which employed pop culture themes that ranged from Western imagery of cowboys and indians to contemporary images of spaceships and atomic symbols.
The modern motel began in the 1920s as mom-and-pop motor courts on a the outskirts of a town. They attracted the first road warriors as they crossed the U. S. in their new automobiles. They usually had a grouping of small cabins and their anonymity made them ideal trysting places (or the "hot trade" in industry lingo). Even the famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde were frequent guests, using motels as hideouts. The motels' potential for breeding lust and larceny alarmed then FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who called motor courts "camps of crime" in a magazine article in 1940.
Motels differed from hotels in their emphasis on largely anonymous interactions between owners and occupants, their location along highways (as opposed to urban cores), and their orientation to the outside (in contrast to hotels whose doors typically face a hallway).
With the 1950s introduction of Kemmons Wilson's Holiday Inn, the 'mom and pop' motels of that era went into decline. Eventually, the emergence of the interstate highway system, along with other factors, led to a blurring of the motel and the hotel. Today, family owned motels with as few as five rooms may still be found along older highways, but their lifespans appear to be short.
External links
- http://www.motelamericana.com Motel Americana - a page devoted to history, narratives, and design of postwar motels
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Motel."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
Motel | English | Motorist + hotel | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: MotelSynonyms: court (n), motor hotel (n), motor inn (n), motor lodge (n), tourist court (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Motel |
| English words defined with "motel": motel room. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "motel": ATTENDANT, LODGING FACILITIES, auto-camp attendant ♦ caretaker, resort ♦ HOUSE OFFICER ♦ MANAGER, FRONT OFFICE, manager, general, MANAGER, HOTEL OR MOTEL, MANAGER, HOTEL RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, manager, motor hotel, manager, motor inn, manager, resident ♦ RESIDENTIAL BUILDING ♦ SALES REPRESENTATIVE, HOTEL SERVICES, SALES REPRESENTATIVE, WATER-SOFTENING EQUIPMENT, security officer, special officer ♦ touring counselor, tourist-camp attendant, TOURIST-INFORMATION ASSISTANT, TRAVEL COUNSELOR, AUTOMOBILE CLUB, traveling clerk. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Motel" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Afrikaan (motel), Albanian (motel), Czech (motel), Danish (motel), Dutch (motel), French (motel), German (motel), Hawaiian (motel), Hungarian (motel), Indonesian (motel), Italian (motel), Macedonian (hotel), Portuguese (motel), Portuguese Brazilian (motel), Russian (hotel), Serbo-Croatian (guesthouse, motel), Spanish (motel), Turkish (motel, resting place, road house). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Tell him if he doesn't sign the bill lowering the cable rates, we will release the video of him with the cheerleader in the Chicago motel room (Tomorrow Never Dies; writing credit: Bruce Feirstein) I called the motel but you're nephew checked out. (Herbie Rides Again; writing credit: Gordon Buford; Bill Walsh) Youse all seen a bar in a motel, right (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear) Bates Motel 12 rooms, 12 vacancies (Psycho; writing credit: Joseph Stefano) Three Aces Motel, room 202. See you soon (C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation; writing credit: Kenta Fukasaku; Koshun Takami) | |
Lyrics | Motel, sittin' in the dark (These Are the Days; performing artist: O-Town) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Motel (1974) Raquel's Motel (1970) Motel Wives (1968) Avventura al motel (1963) Motel the Operator (1940) | |
Song Titles | Monkey Motel (performing artist: Scott Laningham) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Architectural drawing for a motel ("B & K system of tourist homes") for William Knox. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Helena, Montana. "Motel". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Voyager Motel, Biscayne Blvd. & 104th St., North Miami, Florida. I. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Motel sign" by Jared Swafford Commentary: "Motel sign with burned out 'L'." | "Bel Motel" by Greg Schmigel Commentary: "Vintage signage from the Bel Alton Motel. Shot on E10, converted to black and white in Pshop. Enjoy. See more of my works at www.27cm.com." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Hotel; motel; lodging; front desk; concierge; ding; bell; accommodation; fleabag; flop box; flophouse; hospice; hostel; hostelry; house; inn; motor inn; public house; resort; roadhouse; rooming house; scratch crib; tavern. | | Bellboy; bellhop; hotel; motel; lodging. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Growing need for hotel rooms and food and beverage equipment and supplies, as well as hotel and motel equipment were satisfied through new construction of hotels and extensive works on old hotels. (references) | |
Economic History | Panama | Recreation, entertainment services, fast food, automotive, and hotel and motel franchises are readily marketable as the local market demands better facilities and services. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Motel" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 80.30% of the time. "Motel" is used about 132 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 80.3% | 106 | 31,637 |
| Noun (proper) | 19.7% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Total | 100.00% | 132 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| "Motel" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "Marduk's servant". | |||
| The following table summarizes names related to "Motel." | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Related Name |
| Mordecai | Male | Biblical | N/A |
| Mordecai | Male | English | N/A |
| Mordikai | Male | English | Mordecai |
| Mordecai | Male | Jewish | N/A |
| Mordechai | Male | Jewish | Mordecai |
| Motel | Male | Jewish | Mordecai |
| Motke | Male | Jewish | Mordecai |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
Expression using "motel": motel room. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "motel": motel-style, motel-supermarket-hamburger. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
motel 6 | 10,205 | virginia beach motel | 214 |
motel | 8,992 | motel coupon | 210 |
super 8 motel | 5,122 | wildwood motel | 207 |
motel 8 | 1,153 | pigeon forge motel | 204 |
hotel motel | 1,141 | panama city beach motel | 204 |
best western motel | 894 | pet friendly motel | 202 |
cheap motel | 734 | cape cod motel | 201 |
myrtle beach motel | 618 | lake tahoe motel | 199 |
motel for sale | 536 | washington motel | 192 |
motel discount | 437 | branson motel | 190 |
san diego motel | 420 | atlanta motel | 190 |
motel parksville | 362 | montreal motel | 184 |
new orleans motel | 290 | wildwood new jersey motel | 169 |
day inn motel | 268 | maine motel | 168 |
motel 6.com | 254 | daytona beach motel | 158 |
orlando motel | 227 | branson missouri motel | 150 |
motel reservation | 223 | niagara falls motel | 141 |
ocean city maryland motel | 221 | gatlinburg motel | 137 |
las vegas motel | 219 | motel 6 location | 136 |
ocean city motel | 216 | florida motel | 133 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "motel"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | motel. (various references) | |
Albanian | motel. (various references) | |
Arabic | فندق على الطريق العام, فندق رخيص (flop). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | мотел (court). (various references) | |
Chinese | 汽车旅馆. (various references) | |
Czech | motel. (various references) | |
Danish | motel. (various references) | |
Dutch | motel. (various references) | |
Esperanto | motelo. (various references) | |
Farsi | متل . (various references) | |
Finnish | motelli. (various references) | |
French | motel. (various references) | |
German | motel. (various references) | |
Greek | μοτέλ (road house). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | motel. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מלון זול (doss house), מוטל (imposed, incumbent, placed). (various references) | |
Hungarian | motel. (various references) | |
Indonesian | motel. (various references) | |
Italian | motel, autostello. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | モーゼル連発銃 (fashion, Mauser rifle, mobile ham, mobile home, mobile house, modal, mode, mode line, mode-line, moment, momentum, moped, morning, morning after, morning call, morning coat, morning cup, morning dress, morning service, motor, motor home, motor hotel, motor pool, motor race, motor show, motor sports, motorbike, motorboat, motorcar, motorcycle, motorist, motorization, mourning dress, Mozart, wake-up call), モザイク卵 (greenish gray, mob, mock-up, modem, modern, modern art, modern ballet, modern craft, modern dance, modern jazz, modern life, modern living, modernism, modernist, modernity, modernize, modernology, modification, modified American plan, modify, modiste, modular, modularization, modulation, module, modulo, mop, mosaic egg, Moscow, mosque, mosquito-weight, moss green, motif, motivation, motivation research, motto, Mozambique, sexy). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | モーテル , モーターホテル (motor hotel), モーターイン , モテル . (various references) | |
Korean | 모텔. (various references) | |
Manx | carlan oast. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | otelmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | motel. (various references) | |
Portuguese Brazilian | motel. (various references) | |
Romanian | hotel cu garaj. (various references) | |
Russian | мотель. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | motel (guesthouse). (various references) | |
Spanish | motel. (various references) | |
Swedish | motell. (various references) | |
Turkish | motel (resting place, road house). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | мотель. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "motel": motels. (additional references) | |
Words containing "motel": remotely. (additional references) | |
| |
"Motel" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: botel, Jobtel, Jotul, Kotelo, Majel, matel, Mertel, Metel, Methel, mettel, mistel, mitle, mittel, Mitzel, moel, Mofeli, mogel, mohel, Moheli, Moitel, molet, moltenly, monel, Monell, montel, Montiel, mopel, Moshal, Mostek, mostle, motal, Motala, motee, Motej, motely, motem, moten, motey, motial, motil, Motl, motle, motlee, Motler, motlet, motol, mottele, Mottely, Mottl, movel, moxel, moyel, mozel, mutal, mutek, mutul, omel, Omell, otel, Otelo, rotel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "motel" (pronounced mōte"l) |
| 4 | -ō t e" l | hotel. |
| 3 | -t e" l | cartel, clientele, foretell, Tel, tell, pastel, retell. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-l-m-o-t" | |
-1 letter: melt, mole, molt, mote, tole, tome. | |
-2 letters: elm, let, lot, mel, met, mol, mot, ole, tel, toe, tom. | |
-3 letters: el, em, et, lo, me, mo, oe, om, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-l-m-o-t" | |
+1 letter: loment, melton, merlot, molest, molted, molten, molter, motels, motile, motley, mottle, omelet, telome. | |
+2 letters: boomlet, filemot, lomenta, loments, maltose, matelot, melilot, meltons, menthol, merlots, molests, molters, moonlet, motiles, motleys, motlier, mottled, mottler, mottles, moulted, moulter, oatmeal, omelets, omental, premolt, telamon, telomes, telomic, temblor, tollmen, tremolo, trommel. | |
+3 letters: amitrole, boomlets, celomata, compleat, complect, complete, demivolt, dolomite, emulator, flameout, folkmote, helotism, hoteldom, hotelman, hotelmen, immolate, immotile, impolite, leftmost, limonite, loamiest, locomote, lodgment, lomentum, longtime, lothsome, maltoses, martello, matelote, matelots, meatloaf, megavolt, melilots, melodist, meltdown, menthols, metazoal, methanol, methoxyl, milepost, moatlike, modelist, modestly, modulate, moldiest, molested, molester, moltenly, momently, moonlets, motherly, mothlike, motleyer, motliest, mottlers, moulters, mylonite, nonmetal, oatmeals, omelette, outsmile, overmelt, palmetto, polemist, remotely, rolamite, snowmelt, telomere, temblors, temporal, toilsome, tomalley, tombless, tomblike, tremolos, trommels, tumulose, twelvemo, unmolten. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Derived from | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
