Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation, especially one with pay granted to an employee.
  • noun A holiday.
  • noun A fixed period of holidays, especially one during which a school, court, or business suspends activities.
  • noun The act or an instance of vacating.
  • intransitive verb To take or spend a vacation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of vacating.
  • noun A space of time, or a condition, in which there is an intermission of a stated employment or procedure; a stated interval in a round of duties; a holiday.
  • noun Specifically— In law, temporary cessation of judicial proceedings; the space of time between the end of one term of court and the beginning of the next; the period during which a court holds no sessions; recess; non-term. In England the vacations are—Christmas vacation, commencing on December 24th and ending January 6th; Easter vacation, commencing on Good Friday and ending on Easter Tuesday; Whitsun vacation, commencing on the Saturday before and ending on the Tuesday after Whitsunday; and the long vacation, commencing on August 13th and ending on October 23d.
  • noun The intermission of the regular studies of an educational institution of any kind, when the students have a recess; holidays: as, the summer vacation.
  • noun The act of becoming vacant; avoidance: said especially of a see or other spiritual dignity.
  • noun Freedom from duty; leisure time.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of vacating; a making void or of no force.
  • noun Intermission of a stated employment, procedure, or office; a period of intermission; rest; leisure.
  • noun (Law) Intermission of judicial proceedings; the space of time between the end of one term and the beginning of the next; nonterm; recess.
  • noun A period of intermission of regular paid work or employment, or of studies and exercises at an educational institution; the time during which a person temporarily ceases regular duties of any kind and performs other activites, usually some form of liesure; holidays; recess (at a school). Vacation is typically used for rest, travel, or recreation, but may be used for any purpose. In Britain this sense of vacation is usually referred to as holiday.
  • noun (Eccl.) The time when an office is vacant

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun US (law) the act of making legally void.
  • verb intransitive To spend or take a vacation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of making something legally void
  • verb spend or take a vacation
  • noun leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English vacacioun, from Old French vacation, from Latin vacātiō, vacātiōn-, freedom from occupation, from vacātus, past participle of vacāre, to be empty, at leisure; see euə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French vacation, from Latin vacātio.

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Examples

  • A great outdoor enthusiast, John believes that the word vacation is synonymous with white-water rafting and long, arduous hikes in the woods.

    THE LUPUS HANDBOOK FOR WOMEN ROBIN DIBNER 1994

  • A great outdoor enthusiast, John believes that the word vacation is synonymous with white-water rafting and long, arduous hikes in the woods.

    THE LUPUS HANDBOOK FOR WOMEN ROBIN DIBNER 1994

  • A great outdoor enthusiast, John believes that the word vacation is synonymous with white-water rafting and long, arduous hikes in the woods.

    THE LUPUS HANDBOOK FOR WOMEN ROBIN DIBNER 1994

  • Get could pictures and see the sights while your there, I hope you enjoyed your vacation is the not sure a arrogant pompous idiot will find humble Ohio a place to return to. whaley41

    Freshman Dem: Passing health care reform worth losing my seat 2009

  • I wish I could go, but my vacation is already taken up by other upcoming trips.

    Packing drewan 2006

  • I have been gone away, crazed - and this is what I call vacation!

    moschikat Diary Entry moschikat 2003

  • He starts at the very beginning, with the story I already heard from Aunt Georgia, from when he was sent from L.A. by Deb on what she called a vacation but turned out to be a short stay with Grandpa Ivan in Boise and then a longer stay with Aunt Georgia and Uncle Charles.

    Still Waters JENNIFER LAUCK 2001

  • Every time any family has a visiting student into his home, at holiday-time, at Christmas, or in vacation, that is yet one more thread to hold the Commonwealth to gether.

    The Modern Commonwealth 1967

  • Maybe that’s because the word vacation comes from the Latin word, vacans, meaning “to vacate” or “to be empty.”

    I Used to Have a Handle on Life But It Broke Mary Loverde 2002

  • Maybe that’s because the word vacation comes from the Latin word, vacans, meaning “to vacate” or “to be empty.”

    I Used to Have a Handle on Life But It Broke Mary Loverde 2002

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