English▸ noun
1 a fixed holiday period between terms in universities and law courts:
the Easter vacation.
▪ North American English an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in travelling; a holiday:
he took a vacation in the south of France
people come here on vacation.
2 [mass noun] the action of leaving something one previously occupied:
his marriage was the reason for the vacation of his fellowship.
▸ verb [no object] North American English take a holiday:
I was vacationing in Europe with my family.
– ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin vacatio(n-), from vacare ‘be unoccupied’ (see vacate).