avocation

plural avocations

1. countableobsoleteuncountableA calling away; a diversion.

   But though she could neither sleep nor rest in her bed, yet, having no avocation from it, she was found there by her father at his return from Allworthy's, which was not till past ten o'clock in the morning.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

2. countableuncountableA hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.

   But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation As my two eyes make one in sight.

   1934, Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time

   1 more example

   Gardening is a wholesome avocation that encourages appreciation for nature and concern for the preservation and enhancement of our environment.

   1986 April 18, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5462

   Synonyms: amusement, diversion, divertisement, fancy, hobby, kill-time, pastime, pursuit

3. countableuncountableThat which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.
4. countableuncountablePursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.

   I have been received with unsurpassable politeness, delicacy, sweet temper, hospitality, consideration, and with unsurpassable respect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by the nature of my avocation here and the state of my health.

   1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC

   3 more examples

   I have several things on the anvil, and near finished, that perhaps might be useful, if published: but the continual avocation by business, the impositions on me by impertinent visits, and the uneasiness of writing, which grows more intolerable to me every day, I doubt, will prevent my going any farther.

   1711 November 1, William King, Letter to Jonathan Swift

   [W]hen his other more momentous Avocations of Pedantry and Pedagogiſm vvill give him an Interval from VVrath and Contention, he vvill ſet apart a Moment to conſider humane Nature Deviliz'd, and give us a Mathematical Anatomical Deſcription of it; […]

   1726, [Daniel Defoe], “Of Satan’s Agents or Missionaries, and Their Actings upon and in the Minds of Men in His Name”, in The Political History of the Devil, as well Ancient as Modern: […], London: […] T. Warner, […], →OCLC, part II (Of the Modern History of the Devil), page 244

   The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the law-copyists or scriveners.

   1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, in The Piazza Tales, New York: Dix, Edwards & Co, published 1856

5. countableuncountableThe calling of a case from an inferior to a superior court.