an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.
Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.
a child's hobbyhorse.
Archaic. a small horse.
an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure or relaxation
archaic a small horse or pony
short for hobbyhorse
an early form of bicycle, without pedals
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English hoby(n), probably from Robin, or Robert ( cf. hob 2), used as horse's name, as in dobbin
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English hoby, from Middle French hobé, variant of Middle French, Old French hobel (compare French hobereau ), probably noun derivative of hobeler “to skirmish, harass,” perhaps from Middle Dutch hob(b)elen “to turn, roll”; compare Dutch hobbelen “to rock, jolt” ( cf. hobble)
A hobby is an activity that you do in your spare time for fun. Your hobby may be putting together model train sets and driving your mom crazy from all the noise. In the 13th century the word hobby referred to a small horse or a pony. It later came to describe a toy horse — a hobbyhorse. It’s from the hobbyhorse that the word’s modern sense of “favorite pastime” evolved. A hobby is something that you do for fun — not money — and you typically do it fairly regularly. Collecting stamps, growing roses, reading — any of these can be hobbies.
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Dawn's daughter, 29-year-old marketing director, Amanda Kerr, has adopted her mum's favourite hobby as a way to cope with what happened - and help others in the process.
From BBC • May 6, 2026
His principal hobby, sailing the waters of coastal Massachusetts, brings him bliss.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
"We just started this back in the day, as a hobby... we kind of want to grow organically," said brew group member Sasan Oskouei, a visual artist.
From Barron's • May 2, 2026
The couple would have two daughters and a son and settled on a 150-acre-plus farm in Solway, an unincorporated suburb of Knoxville, where they raised beef cattle as a hobby.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026
“I wish I had me a hobby like that.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
