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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“I’ve tried many many brands of frozen pizza, like it was a hobby to figure out which one was the best. My wife and I just keep coming back to Freschetta,” says one Redditor.
From Salon • May 30, 2026
His parents were doctors with a hobby farm with horses, guinea hens, geese, a cow and a pig.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 30, 2026
The way 22-year-old Weaver sees it, the AI boom is threatening the hobby that has shaped his life since he was 8.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
When Russia invaded in 2022, Sevidov stopped taking photographs for two years -- not wanting to pursue his "hobby" while many of his friends were going off to war.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Art was not somthing that could be depended on, though all right for a hobby, like shellwork or wood carving.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
