Lexic.us

Definition of Avocation

1. Noun. An auxiliary activity.

Definition of Avocation

1. n. A calling away; a diversion.

Definition of Avocation

1. Noun. (obsolete) A calling away; a diversion. ¹

2. Noun. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit. ¹

3. Noun. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation. ¹

4. Noun. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Avocation

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Avocation

1. 1. A calling away; a diversion. "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) 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. 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) Origin: L. Avocatio. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Avocation

Literary usage of Avocation

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Modern High School: Its Administration and Extension by Charles Hughes Johnston (1914)
"Relation of avocation to Vocation.—The statement is usually made that the vocation and the avocation should supplement each other; that when the vocation is ..."

2. A Plea for the Queen's English: Stray Notes on Speaking and Spelling by Henry Alford (1881)
"avocation." think it quite wrong to violate this rula Repeatedly, in drawing up handbills ... Now avocation, which, of itself is an innocent word enough, ..."

3. Culture, Discipline and Democracy by Albert Duncan Yocum (1913)
"Even here the test of relative worth selects in each avocation the essential relationships whose mastery will be most Within the useful, and where natural ..."

4. The History of the Reformation of the Church of England by Gilbert Burnet (1829)
"A letter of the pope's to the cardinal concerning the avocation. An original. 19. Julii, 1629. DILECTE fili noster, salutem et apostolicam benedictio- ..."

5. Life on High Levels: Familiar Talks on the Conduct of Life by Margaret Elizabeth Munson Sangster (1897)
"Today, an avocation imperiously beckons both sexes, and sensible young women are as eager as their cousins and brothers to enter on some active form of ..."

6. Life on High Levels: Familiar Talks on the Conduct of Life by Margaret Elizabeth Munson Sangster (1897)
"Choosing; an avocation. decisions are so important or have so many consequences depending on their issue as the choice of an avocation. ..."

7. Audubon, the Naturalist: A History of His Life and Time by Francis Hobart Herrick (1917)
"... in the Western Museum—Settles in Cincinnati—History of his relations with Dr. Drake—Decides to make his avocation his business—Journey down the Ohio and ..."

8. The Imperial Gazetteer of India by Sir William Wilson Hunter (1886)
"Infanticide was once common, but this is said to have entirely died out. They were formerly robbers by avocation ; and although improved, ..."

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