pastime

[ pas-tahym, pahs- ]

/ ˈpæsˌtaɪm, ˈpɑs- /

something that serves to make time pass agreeably; a pleasant means of amusement, recreation, or sport: to play cards as a pastime.

Origin of pastime

1480–90; earlier pas(s)e tyme, translation of Middle French passe-temps

entertainment, hobby, diversion, avocation.

Cooking up scientific explanations of the plagues has been a pastime for years.

Liberian Pastors Blame Ebola on Gays, The Right Blames Obama |Jay Michaelson |October 27, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
And if horse racing endures and survives, it will be the result of an overdue focus on the august animal that defines the pastime.

How Kentucky Will Save Horse Racing From Itself |Jonathan Miller |September 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Let it be a hobby, a pastime, a social thing—like it used to be, like it always was.

Weed Gave My Family Everything—Then Took It Away |Abby Haglage |April 9, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
As a pastime, bow hunting has a more refined history than other modes of recreational animal killing.

Paul Ryan’s Bow-Hunting Bump |Rebecca Dana |August 16, 2012 |DAILY BEAST

People like to brag about their connections in D.C. It's a pastime for some.

10 Worst Political Scandals |Mark McKinnon |October 30, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
They nodded to him and again became intent on their pastime.

Marietta |F. Marion Crawford
Not far from this resting-place is the chief place of rendezvous and pastime of the citizens.

A Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy |Ida Pfeiffer
For pastime she played baccarat at Curzon Street and lost six hundred pounds.

The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett |Compton Mackenzie
Pray now, good father hermit, have not you here some other pastime besides fasting?

Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. |Francois Rabelais
With many a pastime they whiled the hours away, but still her love constrained him and often gave him dole.

The Nibelungenlied |Unknown

pastime

/ (ˈpɑːsˌtaɪm) /

an activity or entertainment which makes time pass pleasantly golf is my favourite pastime

C15: from pass + time, on the model of French passe-temps