avocation

[In Sp. avocacion; Port. avocação; Lat. avocatio a calling off, a diverting of the attention: from avoco.] [AvOCATE.] 1. The act of calling one away from any busine or work in which he may be engaged; the state of being called away. "The soul with pleasing avocation strays." Parnell: To an Old Beauty. 2. The busine which calls or summons one away from society, from idlene , from pleasure, or from other work. (a) It is generally used for an engagement of a trifling character, or at least for one which is not the main busine of a person's life. "By the secular cares and avocations which accompany marriage, the clergy have been furnished with skill in common life."-Atterbury. (b) Sometimes, however, it is used for one's primary vocation or busine in life. [VOCATION.] . whatever other merits this well-dre ed young gentleman might po e , poetry was by no means his proper avocation. "-Moore: Lalla Rookh Sequel to The Light of the Haram."