means a stretch of time deliberately set aside away from work or routine, usually spent traveling or resting.

from From Latin vacationem, 'freedom, exemption, a being unoccupied,' from vacare, 'to be empty or at leisure' — the same root that gives us 'vacant' and 'vacuum.' The idea traveled through Old French (vacacion) into English, where it originally meant a freedom from duty or a suspension of business; only later did it fill that emptiness with beaches and suitcases.