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• hobby
  hobby

  noun

  an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.
• Hobby
  Hobby

  noun

  Oveta Culp 1905–1995, U.S. newspaper publisher and government official: first director of Women's Army Corps 1942–45; first Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1953–55.

hobby

¹ American  

[hob-ee] / ˈhɒb i /

noun

• hobbies
  plural

1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation.

   Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.

2. a child's hobbyhorse.

3. Archaic. a small horse.

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idioms

1. ride a hobby, to concern oneself excessively with a favorite notion or activity. Also ride a hobbyhorse.

hobby ² American  

[hob-ee] / ˈhɒb i /

noun

• hobbies
  plural

1. a small Old World falcon, Falco subbuteo, formerly flown at such small game as larks.

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Hobby ³ American  

[hob-ee] / ˈhɒb i /

noun

1. Oveta Culp 1905–1995, U.S. newspaper publisher and government official: first director of Women's Army Corps 1942–45; first Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1953–55.

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hobby ¹ British  

/ ˈhɒbɪ /

noun

1. an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure or relaxation

2. archaic a small horse or pony

3. short for hobbyhorse

4. an early form of bicycle, without pedals

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hobby ² British  

/ ˈhɒbɪ /

noun

1. any of several small Old World falcons, esp the European Falco subbuteo, formerly used in falconry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hobbyist
  noun
• hobbyless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hobbies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of hobby¹

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

Origin of hobby²

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)

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Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hobby Hobby hobbies

What might look like a fun hobby can become a high-stress activity quickly.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

While it’s all well and good to connect with people over a mutual hobby, online discourse provides a much more fertile foundation than small talk.

From Slate ● Oct. 11, 2026

It also arranged his credit card statements in a spreadsheet and helped him pursue his hobby of collecting ceramic bowls, a task which strikes me as having a fairly small community of potential users.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Solomon’s hobby of DJing had drawn criticism and negative headlines, personalizing the drama at the bank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

First of all: writing, but I don't really think of that as a hobby.

From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

"Hobby spending is a small amount of overall retail sales, but it's a good gauge of whether consumers have any money leftover in their budgets."

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Polling from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston also found that Republican primary voters see both candidates as equally strong for the general election context.

From Salon ● May 20, 2026

It was challenged by several aspiring tinkerers and the Hobby Distillers Association.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

Airports in New York, Atlanta, New Orleans and Houston have experienced the highest percentage of callouts, according to DHS, with nearly half the TSA workforce at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport calling out.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026

C.P. let Wilbur Hobby know he would be attending the first meeting.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

He added that he was "very grateful" for the settlement, which would allow him to regain some quality of life, adding he had already been able to "get back into some of my past hobbies".

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Many of these first-generation founders are bad at hobbies.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

“Your agent will work 24/7 on your behalf to improve your relationships, health, career, finances, home management, hobbies and more,” he wrote.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

She said hobbies such as cooking, sewing and gardening were her generation's "rejection of this hyper-digital world that feels really all-consuming".

From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026

Every person who bought a particular model of television came to believe that TV shows had become particularly mean-spirited of late, and they all canceled their cable and took to other hobbies.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu

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