Phrase guide

busman's holiday

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌbʌsmənz ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-di/
  • General-American: /ˌbʌsmənz ˈhɑləˌdeɪ/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A holiday or vacation during which one does something similar to what one does as work.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a holiday where you do the same things you do at work

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: vacationing

History

Etymology

From busman + -’s + holiday, from the idea that a bus driver, to go off on a holiday, would take an excursion by bus or go on a long drive and thereby engage in a similar activity to his work.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: työn kaltainen loma — holiday or vacation during which one does something similar to what one does as work
  • Polish: urlop polegający na robieniu tego samego, co w pracy — holiday or vacation during which one does something similar to what one does as work