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hobbyist

 - 3 dictionary results

hob⋅by

1  [hob-ee]
Use hobbyist in a Sentence
–noun, plural -bies.
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.
2. a child's hobbyhorse.
3. Archaic. a small horse.
—Idiom
4. ride a hobby, to concern oneself excessively with a favorite notion or activity. Also, ride a hobbyhorse.
Origin:
1325–75; ME hoby(n), prob. for Robin, or Robert (cf. hob 2 ), used as horse's name, as in dobbin

Related forms:
hob⋅by⋅ist, noun
hob⋅by⋅less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hobbyist
hob·by 1   (hŏb'ē)   
n.   pl. hob·bies
An activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

[Middle English hobi, hobyn, small horse, hobby horse, perhaps from Hobin, Hobby, nickname for Robert.]
hob'by·ist n.
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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Word Origin & History

hobby 
1298, "small horse, pony," later "mock horse used in the morris dance," and c.1550 "child's toy riding horse," which led to a transferred sense of "favorite pastime or avocation," first recorded 1676. The connecting notion being "activity that doesn't go anywhere." Probably originally a proper name for a horse (cf. dobbin), a dim. of Robert or Robin.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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