different between endeavour vs avocation

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?d?v.?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?d?v.?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)

Noun

endeavour (plural endeavours)

1. Britain standard spelling of endeavor.
   • 1748, David Hume, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 9

     The like has been the endeavour of critics, logicians, and even politicians […] .

   • 1873, J C Maxwell, A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, volume 2, page 184:

     As we shall find it necessary, in our endeavours to bring electrical phenomena within the province of dynamics, to have our dynamical ideas in a state fit for direct application to physical questions we shall devote this chapter to an exposition of these dynamical ideas from a physical point of view.

Verb

endeavour (third-person singular simple present endeavours, present participle endeavouring, simple past and past participle endeavoured)

1. Britain standard spelling of endeavor.
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), § 2:

     The other species of philosophers consider man in the light of a reasonable rather than an active being, and endeavour to form his understanding more than cultivate his manners.

   • November 20, 1777, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Debate in the Lords on the Address of Thanks

     It is our duty […] to endeavour the recovery of these most beneficial subjects.

   • 1669 May 18, Sir Isaac Newton, Letter (to Francis Aston):

     If you be affronted, it is better, in a foreign country, to pass it by in silence, and with a jest, though with some dishonour, than to endeavour revenge; for, in the first case, your credit's ne'er the worse when you return into England, or come into other company that have not heard of the quarrel.

English

Etymology

From Latin ?voc?ti? (“a distraction”), from ?voc? (“I call off, distract”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /av?(?)?ke???n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ævo??ke???n/, /æv??ke???n/
• Hyphenation: av?o?ca?tion

Noun

avocation (countable and uncountable, plural avocations)

1. (obsolete) A calling away; a diversion.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 204:

     But though she could neither sleep nor rest in her bed, yet, having no avocation from it, she was found there by her father at his return from Allworthy's, which was not till past ten o'clock in the morning.

2. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
   • 1934, Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time

     But yield who will to their separation,

     My object in living is to unite

     My avocation and my vocation

     As my two eyes make one in sight.

   • 18 April, 1986, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5462

     Gardening is a wholesome avocation that encourages appreciation for nature and concern for the preservation and enhancement of our environment.

3. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.
4. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.
   • November 1, 1711, William King, Letter to Jonathan Swift

     I have several things on the anvil, and near finished, that perhaps might be useful, if published: but the continual avocation by business, the impositions on me by impertinent visits, and the uneasiness of writing, which grows more intolerable to me every day, I doubt, will prevent my going any farther.

   • I have been received with unsurpassable politeness, delicacy, sweet temper, hospitality, consideration, and with unsurpassable respect for the privacy daily enforced upon me by the nature of my avocation here and the state of my health.

5. The calling of a case from an inferior to a superior court.

Synonyms

• (hobby): See also Thesaurus:hobby

Related terms

• avocational
• avocationally
• vocation

Translations

See also

• volunteerism