vacations

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of vacation.

   The couple planned several short vacations instead of one long trip.

   Family vacations were the only time her father truly relaxed.

   Note

   Counting brings out the noun's countable uses: separate trips, school breaks, the recesses of a university or a law court. The plural can also count departures, because the noun also names the act of vacating, or moving out. Several vacations of a property are several move-outs. An older meaning of 'occupation, activity' is obsolete, so the plural is not read that way today.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of vacation.

   Each winter she vacations in the mountains to escape the city.

   The senator vacations at the same coastal town year after year.

   Note

   An intransitive verb: someone vacations somewhere but never vacations something. A place phrase usually follows, such as in the mountains, at the coast or abroad. Keep it apart from vacates, which does take an object (she vacates the apartment). The two meet only in the plural noun, which can mean either holidays or move-outs.

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