• n. 嗜好；业余爱好
• n. (Hobby)人名；(英)霍比

缩写自hobby-horse,玩具马，竹马，词源同hop,跳。原指儿童玩的骑马游戏，引申词义业余爱好。比较诗句“郎骑竹马来，绕床弄青梅”。

hobby

hobby: Hobby in the sense ‘pastime’ is short for hobbyhorse. This originated in the 16th century as a term for the figure of a horse used in morris dances: the element hobby, used since the 14th century for a ‘small horse’, was derived from Hob, a pet form of the man’s name Robert or Robin which survives also in hobgoblin [16]. From the morris-dance hobbyhorse was descended the toy hobbyhorse, a stick with a horse’s head on top; and the notion of ‘riding a hobbyhorse’, which could not actually take you anywhere, passed metaphorically into ‘doing something only for amusement’ – hence the meaning ‘pastime’, first recorded for hobbyhorse in the 17th century and for the shortened hobby in the early 19th century. Hobby ‘bird of prey’ [15] comes from Old French hobet, a diminutive form of hobe ‘small bird of prey’, whose origins are not known.
=> hobbyhorse, hobgoblin

hobby (n.)

late 13c., hobyn, "small horse, pony," later "mock horse used in the morris dance," and c. 1550 "child's toy riding horse," which led to hobby-horse in a transferred sense of "favorite pastime or avocation," first recorded 1670s, shortened to hobby by 1816. The connecting notion being "activity that doesn't go anywhere." Probably originally a proper name for a horse (see dobbin), a diminutive of Robert or Robin. The original hobbyhorse was a "Tourney Horse," a wooden or basketwork frame worn around the waist and held on with shoulder straps, with a fake tail and horse head attached, so the wearer appears to be riding a horse. These were part of church and civic celebrations at Midsummer and New Year's throughout England.

1. It is only a hobby, not a life or death struggle.

这只是一项爱好，不需要拼死拼活地努力。

来自柯林斯例句

2. His secret hobby: performing magic tricks.

他私底下有变戏法的嗜好。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Find a hobby or interest which enthuses you.

培养一个自己喜欢的爱好或兴趣。

来自柯林斯例句

4. His hobby is freefall parachuting.

他的业余爱好是自由落体式跳伞。

来自柯林斯例句

5. Honesty is a favourite hobby-horse for Courau.

诚信是库罗最喜欢谈论的一个话题。

来自柯林斯例句