vac

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableinformalBritish

   A vacuum cleaner, or the act of cleaning a floor with one.

   Grammar: Countable for the machine: a new vac. Often used with give: give the rug a vac.

   Patterns

   • give something a vac
   • get out the vac

   Can you put the vac away when you have finished the stairs?

   The carpet needs a quick vac before our guests arrive.

   Our old vac finally died, so we bought a lighter one.

2. 2nouncountableinformalBritish

   A long break from classes, especially the holiday between terms at a British university.

   Grammar: Usually used with a season or a word like long: the summer vac.

   Patterns

   • in the vac
   • the long vac

   Most of my friends take part-time jobs in the long vac.

   She spent the Easter vac revising for her finals.

   The library is much quieter during the vac.

Word forms

Common combinations

give something a vac

I gave the sofa a quick vac before the visitors came.

the long vac

He worked in a lab during the long vac.

summer vac

We are all going home for the summer vac.

Christmas vac

The essay is due after the Christmas vac.

vac work

Vac work in a law firm looks good on a student's CV.

Synonyms and how they differ

hoover

Hoover is a British brand name used generally for a vacuum cleaner, and it is also used as a verb, which vac is less often.

vacuum

Vacuum is the full word and works in any setting, whereas vac is a casual clipped form.

vacation

Vacation is the full word, but in British university talk it often means a term break, while vac is the shortened everyday version.

Word family

vacuum noun

a space empty of air; also short for vacuum cleaner

vacation noun

a period of rest from work or study

vacuum cleaner noun

an electric machine that sucks up dirt

Commonly confused: vac or vacation?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “vac”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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