A vacation during which one engages in activity that is similar to one's usual work.
Dictionary:
bus·man's holiday (bŭs'mənz) ![]() |
A vacation during which one engages in activity that is similar to one's usual work.
| Wordsmith Words: busman's holiday |
(BUS-manz HOL-i-day)
noun
A holiday spent doing things as at work.
[Imagine a bus driver having a day off, 'enjoying' a bus ride and you'll have a pretty good idea of this term. Going on a long drive might be a great vacation for many of us, but not for a bus driver. Of course, when the phrase came up some 200 years ago, bus drivers had charge of horse-drawn buses. The term is sometimes seen as 'businessman's holiday'.]
's+holidayUsage:
"Boundless energy and vaulting ambition carried Nicolas Sarkozy to the presidency of France. Now that he has had just over 100 days in office (including a hyperactive busman's holiday in New Hampshire), it is a good time to take stock of where all this energy may be leading." — The World According to Sarkozy; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 30, 2007.
| Idioms: busman's holiday |
Free time spent in much the same pursuit as one's work. For example, Weather permitting, the lifeguard spent all her days off at the beach--a real busman's holiday. The term alludes to a bus driver spending his day off taking a long bus ride. [Late 1800s]
| WordNet: busman's holiday |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a holiday where you do the same things you do at work
| The Gold Express (1955 Crime Film) | |
| The Myth That Wouldn't Die (1991 Film) | |
| Enormous (Rock Band, '90s) |
| What can you do on holidays? Read answer... | |
| What is the holiday for? Read answer... | |
| What are holidays? Read answer... |
| When are the holidays? | |
| How about on a holiday? | |
| Which holidays are floating holidays? |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
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