excursion

See also: excursión

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin excursio (“a running out, an inroad, invasion, a setting out, beginning of a speech”), from excurrere (“to run out”), from ex (“out”) + currere (“to run”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈskɜː.ʃən/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈskɝ.ʒən/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ekˈskɜː.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃən, -ɜː(ɹ)ʒən

Noun

excursion (plural excursions)

1. A brief recreational trip; a journey out of the usual way.

   While driving home I took an excursion and saw some deer.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     Mother […] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.

2. (Australia) A field trip.
3. A wandering from the main subject: a digression.
4. (aviation) An occurrence where an aircraft runs off the end or side of a runway or taxiway, usually during takeoff, landing, or taxi.
5. (phonetics) A deviation in pitch, for example in the syllables of enthusiastic speech.

Synonyms

• (recreational trip): journey, trip
• (wandering from the main subject): digression, excursus

Antonyms

• (field trip): incursion

Derived terms

• alarums and excursions
• excursion fare
• excursion rate
• excursion steamer
• power excursion

 

Related terms

• excursus

Translations

brief recreational trip

• Albanian: ekskursion (sq) m
• Armenian: էքսկուրսիա (hy) (ēkʻskursia), զբոսարշավ (hy) (zbosaršav)
• Basque: txango
• Belarusian: экску́рсія f (ekskúrsija)
• Bulgarian: екску́рзия (bg) f (ekskúrzija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遠足／远足 (zh) (yuǎnzú), 短途旅行 (duǎntú lǚxíng), 郊遊／郊游 (zh) (jiāoyóu), 野遊／野游 (zh) (yěyóu)

• Czech: výlet (cs) m, exkurze (cs) f
• Danish: udflugt (da) c, ekskursion c
• Dutch: uitstapje (nl) n, excursie (nl) f
• Esperanto: ekskurso
• Finnish: ekskursio (fi), huviretki
• French: excursion (fr) f, randonnée (fr) f
• German: Ausflug (de) m, Exkursion (de) f
• Greek: εκδρομή (el) f (ekdromí)
• Hebrew: טיול (he) (tiul)
• Hungarian: kirándulás (hu)
• Ido: exkurso (io)
• Indonesian: ekskursi (id)
• Italian: gita (it) f, escursione (it) f
• Japanese: 遠足 (ja) (えんそく, ensoku)
• Latin: excursiō f
• Lithuanian: ekskursija f
• Luxembourgish: Ausfluch m
• Maori: tiripi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utflukt m or f, ekskursjon m

  Nynorsk: utflukt f, ekskursjon m

• Persian: گشت‌وگذار (gašt-o-gozâr)
• Polish: wycieczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: excursão (pt) f, passeio (pt) m
• Romanian: excursie (ro) f
• Russian: экску́рсия (ru) f (ekskúrsija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: екскурзија f

  Roman: ekskurzija (sh) f

• Spanish: excursión (es) f
• Swedish: utflykt (sv) c, exkursion (sv) c
• Telugu: విహారయాత్ర (te) (vihārayātra)
• Ukrainian: екску́рсія f (ekskúrsija)

wandering from the main subject

• Belarusian: э́кскурс m (ékskurs)
• Bulgarian: отклонение (bg) n (otklonenie)
• Danish: ekskurs c
• German: Abschweifung (de) f, Exkurs (de) m, Digression f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ekskurs m

  Nynorsk: ekskurs m

• Russian: э́кскурс (ru) m (ékskurs)
• Swedish: utvikning (sv) c, exkurs (sv) c
• Ukrainian: е́кскурс m (ékskurs)

Verb

excursion (third-person singular simple present excursions, present participle excursioning, simple past and past participle excursioned)

1. (intransitive) To go on a recreational trip or excursion.
   • 1825, Charles Lamb, Letter to Mr. Wordsworth, 6 April, 1825, in The Works of Charles Lamb, Volume I, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851, p. 249, [1]

     Yesterday I excursioned twenty miles; to-day I write a few letters.

   • 1880, Mark Twain, chapter 49, in A Tramp Abroad‎^[2]:

     After breakfast, that next morning in Chamonix, we went out in the yard and watched the gangs of excursioning tourists arriving and departing with their mules and guides and porters […]

   • 1942, Emily Carr, “Ways of Getting Round”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

     Victoria cows preferred to walk on the plank sidewalks in winter rather than dirty their hooves in the mud by the roadside. They liked to tune their chews to the tap, tap, tap of their feet on the planks. Ladies challenged the right of way by opening and shutting their umbrellas in the cows' faces and shooing, but the cows only chewed harder and stood still. It was the woman-lady, not the lady-cow who had to take to the mud and get scratched by the wild rose bushes that grew between sidewalk and fence while she excursioned round the cow.

Translations

to go on an excursion

• Finnish: mennä huviretkelle, mennä ekskursiolle, retkeillä (fi)

Further reading

• “excursion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “excursion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “excursion”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin excursiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛk.skyʁ.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

excursion f (plural excursions)

1. excursion
2. wander (talk off topic)

Further reading

• “excursion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.