Avocation

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Avocation \Av`o*ca"tion\, n. [L. avocatio.]
     1. A calling away; a diversion. [Obs. or Archaic]
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              Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin.
                                                    --South.


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     2. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or
        vocation.
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              Heaven is his vocation, and therefore he counts
              earthly employments avocations.       --Fuller.
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              By the secular cares and avocations which accompany
              marriage the clergy have been furnished with skill
              in common life.                       --Atterbury.
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     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.
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     3. pl. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time;
        usual employment; vocation.
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              There are professions, among the men, no more
              favorable to these studies than the common
              avocations of women.                  --Richardson.
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              In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his
              standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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              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.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  avocation
       n : an auxiliary activity [syn: {by-line}, {hobby}, {sideline},
           {spare-time activity}]