hobby
/ˈhɑ.bi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.94 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time.
noun
An extinct breed of horse native to the British Isles, also known as the Irish Hobby.
noun
Synonym of hobby horse (“a favorite topic”).
noun
Painting and building miniatures (as opposed to playing the game)
noun
Any of four species of small falcons in the genus Falco, especially Falco subbuteo.
name
An English surname transferred from the given name.
Example Sentences
- "I like to collect stamps from different countries as a hobby."
- "take up a hobby"
- "give up your hobby"
- "I was out a-hunting to-day, and I got away to a place in the wood I’d never seen before. And there was an old chalk-pit. And I heard a kind of a sort of humming. So I got off my hobby, and I went right quiet to the pit, and I looked down."
- ""Well, I think East is right," said Arthur; "I can't see but what it's right to do the best you can, though it mayn't be the best absolutely. Every man isn't born to be a martyr." "Of course, of course," said East; "but he's on one of his pet hobbies. — How often have I told you, Tom, that you must drive a nail where it'll go.""
- "I'm more into the competitive part than the hobby part of this game."
Etymology
From Middle English hoby (“small horse, pony”), a variant or alteration of hobyn (“a small ambling horse”), of uncertain and disputed origin. According to one theory the term is derived from Hobin, a pet name of Robert or Robin, at the time frequently used as a proper name for a workhorse (compare dobbin). Alternatively, possibly from Anglo-Norman hobyn, Old French hobin, obin ("a nag, hobby"; > Modern French aubin, Italian ubino): either derived from Old French hober, ober (“to stir, move”), from Old Dutch *hobbon ("to toss, move up and down"; whence Middle Dutch hobbelen (“to bump along”)); or possibly from North Germanic origin related to Danish hoppe (“a mare”), Old Swedish hoppa (“a young mare”), North Frisian hoppe (“horse”); both routes ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to bob, hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb- (“to bend; a bend, joint”). More at hop, hobble. The modern sense of "pastime, activity of interest" is a clipping of hobby horse, which had shifted from "small horse, pony" to "child's toy riding horse" to "favorite pastime or avocation" with the connecting notion being "activity that doesn't go anywhere".
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhɑ.bi/
- British English: /ˈhɒ.bi/