6 results for: avocation

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
av·o·ca·tion    Audio Help   [av-uh-key-shuhn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.something a person does in addition to a principal occupation, esp. for pleasure; hobby: Our doctor's avocation is painting.
2.a person's regular occupation, calling, or vocation.
3.Archaic. diversion or distraction.

[Origin: 1520–30; < L āvocātiōn- (s. of āvocātiō) a calling away. See a-4, vocation]

av·o·ca·tion·al, adjective
av·o·ca·tion·al·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
avocation

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© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
av·o·ca·tion    Audio Help   (āv'ō-kā'shən)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. An activity taken up in addition to one's regular work or profession, usually for enjoyment; a hobby.
  2. One's regular work or profession.
  3. Archaic A distraction or diversion.


[Latin āvocātiō, āvocātiōn-, diversion, from āvocātus, past participle of āvocāre, to call away : ā-, ab-, away; see ab-1 + vocāre, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots.]

av'o·ca'tion·al adj., av'o·ca'tion·al·ly adv.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
avocation 
1529, "a calling away from one's occupation," from L. avocationem (nom. avocatio) "a calling away," pp. of avocare, from ad- "away" + vocare "to call" (see voice).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
avocation

noun
an auxiliary activity 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Avocation

Av`o*ca"tion\, n. [L. avocatio.]

1. A calling away; a diversion. [Obs. or Archaic]

Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin. --South.

2. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.

Heaven is his vocation, and therefore he counts earthly employments avocations. --Fuller.

By the secular cares and avocations which accompany marriage the clergy have been furnished with skill in common life. --Atterbury.

Note: In this sense the word is applied to the smaller affairs of life, or occasional calls which summon a person to leave his ordinary or principal business. Avocation (in the singular) for vocation is usually avoided by good writers.

3. pl. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.

There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. --Richardson.

In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. --Macaulay.

An irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture. --Buckle.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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