As a noun, it is a period of time when you stop working or going to school and travel or rest for pleasure. As a verb, it means to spend such a holiday somewhere.
From Old French 'vacacion', from Latin 'vacātiō' meaning 'freedom from occupation', from 'vacāre' (to be empty, free). It entered English in the Middle Ages.
Vacation literally began as 'emptiness'—an empty schedule with no duties. The idea that 'doing nothing' could be a positive, needed break is built right into the word.
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