excursion

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin excursiō (“a running out, sortie, journey, expedition; a digression”),^[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from excurrō (“to run out”),^[2][3][6][7] formed from ex- (“out”) and currō (“to run”),^[3][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *kers- (“to run”).^[3][7] Barnhart allows that it may also have come through Middle French excursion.^[9] In post-classical Latin the noun also meant the power of thought or imagination and the course of a star.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of going beyond a limit, or to extremes: before 1537, in R. Benese's book on measuring land, a sense now obsolete.^[2] Barnhart's first date is 1574, for a digression,^[9] and Etymonline's the 1570s, for a deviation in argument and a military sally.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word was used of a military sortie or raid (1544), of an outburst of feeling or a witty sally (1565–1793) and of a digression in speech or writing (1566).^[2] The military sense lives on in alarums and excursions, from Elizabethan stage directions.^[10][8] The sense of a journey made with the intention of returning appears in 1593,^[2] though Barnhart first finds it in Joseph Glanvill's Scepsis Scientifica (1665),^[9] and Hoad and Etymonline in the 17th century.^[5][3] The modern sense of a short trip for pleasure dates from 1779, in a letter of Cowper's,^[2] and with the railways came the use for a party of travellers (1844)^[2] and the excursion train (1850).^[11] Technical uses grew from the idea of deviation: a celestial body's departure from its path (1603), any variation outside a usual range (1881), and a sudden rise in the power of a nuclear reactor (1950).^[2] The verb is recorded from 1792, in F. Burney.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1537 – a going beyond limits or to extremes (obsolete by 1733).^[2]
• 1544 – a military sortie or raid.^[2]
• 1566 – a digression from the subject.^[2][9]
• 1593 – a journey made with the intention of returning.^[2]
• 1603 – in astronomy, a deviation from the usual path.^[2]
• 1779 – a short trip for pleasure or health.^[2]
• 1792 – verb, to go on an excursion.^[2]
• 1844 – a group of people on such a trip.^[2]
• 1881 – a variation in a quantity beyond its usual range.^[2]
• 1950 – a sudden rise in power in a nuclear reactor.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short journey out and back, especially for pleasure or sightseeing; an outing: The hotel organised an excursion to the lake.^[12][10][2]
2. A group of people making such a trip.^[12][2]
3. Used before another noun, of special trips and fares: excursion fares.^[12][10]
4. A digression or deviation from the main subject.^[12][2]
5. A movement or variation away from a usual position or range, as a sudden uncontrolled rise in a nuclear reactor's power.^[2]
6. (archaic) A military sortie or raid, now mainly in alarums and excursions.^[10][2]

Verb

1. To go on an excursion.^[10][2]

Word family

• excursional
• excursionist
• alarums and excursions

Related words

• excursus
• course
• current
• incursion
• cursor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins