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avocation - 4 dictionary results
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av⋅o⋅ca⋅tion

  [av-uh-key-shuhn]
Use avocation in a Sentence
–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

Related forms:
av⋅o⋅ca⋅tion⋅al, adjective
av⋅o⋅ca⋅tion⋅al⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To avocation
av·o·ca·tion   (āv'ō-kā'shən)   
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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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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
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