busman's holiday

noun

1. a vacation or day off from work spent in an activity closely resembling one's work, as a bus driver taking a long drive.

busman's holiday

/ ˈbʌsmənz /

noun

1. informal.
   a holiday spent doing the same sort of thing as one does at work

busman's holiday

1. A vacation during which a person engages in activity that is the same as or similar to his or her usual employment: “Our Spanish professor had a busman's holiday this year; she spent her entire vacation doing research in Spain.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of busman's holiday¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Word History and Origins

Origin of busman's holiday¹

C20: alluding to a bus driver having a driving holiday

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Example Sentences

“In a way, we’re living Halloween every day, so painting my daughter’s face was really a bit of a busman’s holiday,” Barrie Gower says with a laugh.

From Los Angeles Times

O’Connor plucked this Prince song from an album by his busman’s holiday the Family — the Purple One didn’t even design to release it on his own — and turned it into an uncommonly somber torch song.

From Los Angeles Times

He was otherwise so absorbed in work — he was looking over early proofs of a Cynthia Ozick book while counting contractions for his pregnant wife — that the author Thomas Mallon summed up his life as a “busman’s holiday without any brakes.”

From Seattle Times

And yet, these charming pieces represent not work for hire so much as a kind of busman’s holiday, in which the author could let down his guard.

From Los Angeles Times

Sequestered with his family for 18 months in their 1955 cabin in Esopus, New York, he embarked on a long busman’s holiday.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• furlough
• sabbatical