a busman's holiday

slang A vacation in which one does an activity that is similar to one's job (as in the case of a bus driver, or "busman," who drives on his vacation). Because I'm a docent, visiting museums on vacation is like a busman's holiday for me. You're a pilot, so I'm curious—does taking a flight somewhere for vacation feel like a busman's holiday? No, I don't want to watch the kids while you guys go into town—that would be like a busman's holiday. I'd feel like I was back in my classroom wrangling preschoolers.

See also: holiday

busman's holiday

A vacation that is spent engaging in an activity that is similar to what one does for work. As a museum curator, Leonard had a busman's holiday when he went to Paris to visit the Louvre. Once other travelers find out I'm a doctor, I'm almost immediately on a busman's holiday, fielding all kinds of medical questions and looking at all manner of rashes. Botanical gardens are beautiful, but when you're a landscaper, they're a bit of a busman's holiday, you know?

See also: holiday

busman's holiday leisure

time spent doing something similar to what one does at work. (Alludes to a bus driver going on a bus tour for his vacation or on a day off.) Tutoring students in the evening is a busman's holiday for our English teacher. It's a bit of a busman's holiday to ask her to be wardrobe mistress for our amateur production in the summer. She's a professional dressmaker.

busman's holiday

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]

See also: holiday

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

a busman's holiday

mainly BRITISH

If someone spends part of their holiday doing things they do in their normal job, you can say that they are having a busman's holiday. This is probably the best fish restaurant in the country — at least one admiring chef a week passes through the cheery dining room on a busman's holiday. A fire crew's Christmas outing turned into a busman's holiday when their coach caught fire. Note: This expression may refer to bus drivers at the beginning of the 20th century when buses were horse-drawn. Drivers sometimes spent their day off riding on their own bus to make sure that the relief drivers were treating the horses properly.

See also: holiday

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

a busman's holiday

a holiday or form of recreation that involves doing the same thing that you do at work.

From the late 19th century, a popular form of working-class recreation was to take an excursion by bus.

See also: holiday

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

a busman’s ˈholiday

(informal) a holiday spent doing the same kind of thing that you do at work: The fire crew’s annual outing turned into a busman’s holiday when their bus caught fire. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze.This phrase may refer to the drivers of horse-drawn vehicles in the 19th century. When they were not working, they often rode as passengers on their own buses to make sure that the replacement driver was treating their horses well.

See also: holiday

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

busman's holiday, a

Free time spent doing the same as one does during working hours. Allegedly the expression comes from the days of horse-drawn buses, when a driver spent his time off traveling about on a bus driven by a friend. It dates from the late nineteenth century.

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References in periodicals archive

Last year, in the UAE we had 15,000 boxes that were filled and distributed, and this year again we are looking at a very high number," Busman said.

We even give people the choice of just giving Dh75 to the hotel, and we will go out and fill the box for them, We are getting a lot of requests everyday on our Facebook page from people who are looking to help," Busman said.

Labourers get a helping hand through Box Appeal

Uniquely blending first-, second-, and third-person narration, Debra Busman jumps around in time and place to tell the gritty, engrossing story of a Caucasian girl named Taylor.

Busman's raw portrayal of poverty's ramifications clearly delineates how these horrible options represent the only choices for these women.

Like a Woman

"Worldwide, Paul has accumulated over 300 formulations and has achieved remarkable success in his career," Busman comments.

Vision Pharma steps up development

Now, with programming features like the Standard Processes feature found in the software, Busman and his programming team of three can import the updated model and simply reselect the new geometry, and the software automatically regenerates the toolpath.

"I was just looking at a job yesterday that already had 24 engineering changes on it," says Busman. "A lot of the changes need to be addressed from a machining standpoint.

"It's the evolution of solids," says Busman. "If the solid is built with integrity, the features are recognized once you bring them in for machining.

If we had to individually program these each time, we'd waste and lose a lot of valuable time," states Busman.

CAM program copes with die machining changes: a flexible, full-featured CAM program allows a stamping die producer to cope with streams of engineering changes easily and efficiently and still meet delivery deadlines

While we area young and aggressive organization, we have more than three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical/medical industry vested in our top management," Busman says, referring to himself, DeStefano and Michael McAloose, the company's chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

By concentrating on products that have been overlooked by larger generic drug companies, Vision Pharma is able to offer opportunities for "bonus profits" to retailers looking for increased bottom-line growth from their generic drug sales, Busman explains.

Vision Pharma LLC

Busman and DeStefano contributed significantly to the impressive growth of Eon Labs Inc.

"We are planning to market over the next 12 to 16 months 10 to 12 products that have been overlooked by larger generics companies due to a lower anticipated return on investment," explains Busman.

Vision Pharma targets niche products

GRAHAM HENRY flies off on a busman's holiday to New Zealand tomorrow.

RUGBY UNION: Henry: My future is here