Despite the wealth of literature on academic work, roles and identities, the meaning of being an academic often does not go beyond such pre-defined and separate roles of teacher, researcher, academic, professional and manager. Consequently, our understanding of academic work is limited. This article explores the holistic meaning of being an academic and considers how this relates to gender. Based on interviews with 35 academics from a single United Kingdom (UK) institution, we argue that what it means to be an academic, goes beyond these pre-defined and separate roles; and that other aspects, such as academic freedom, intellectual stimulation, and a sense of a calling play different roles in different constructions of being an academic. Gender is also found to be an important factor in the different ways of defining academic work. These findings have implications for our understanding of career trajectories of male and female academics.