from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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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