Link Centre Dictionary

hobby

UK/ˈhɒ.bi/ US/ˈhɑ.bi/ fairly common

noun

1.
2.

a child''s plaything consisting of an imitation horse mounted on rockers; the child straddles it and pretends to ride

Synonyms
3.

small Old World falcon formerly trained and flown at small birds

Synonyms

Origin

Shortened from hobby-horse, from Middle English hoby, hobyn, hobin (“small horse, pony”), from Old French hobi, *haubi, haubby, hobin ("a nag, hobby"; > Modern French aubin, Italian ubino), of Germanic origin: from Old French hober, ober (“to stir, move”), from Old Dutch hobben (“to toss, move up and down”); or from North Germanic origin related to Danish hoppe (“a mare”), Old Swedish hoppa (“a young mare”), North Frisian hoppe (“horse”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *huppōną (“to hop”), from Proto-Indo-European *kewb- (“to bend; a bend, joint”). More at hop, hobble. The meaning of hobby-horse 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". Possibly originally from a proper name for a horse, a diminutive of Robert or Robin (compare dobbin).

Phrases

  • hobby bobby
  • hobby desk
  • hobby farm
  • hobby fuse
  • hobby horse
  • hobby knife
  • hobby table
  • Irish hobby

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.