Jubilee

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Jubilee \Ju"bi*lee\, n. [F. jubil['e], L. jubilaeus, Gr. ?, fr.
     Heb. y[=o]bel the blast of a trumpet, also the grand
     sabbatical year, which was announced by sound of trumpet.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Jewish Hist.) Every fiftieth year, being the year
        following the completion of each seventh sabbath of years,


        at which time all the slaves of Hebrew blood were
        liberated, and all lands which had been alienated during
        the whole period reverted to their former owners. [In this
        sense spelled also, in some English Bibles, {jubile}.]
        --Lev. xxv. 8-17.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The joyful commemoration held on the fiftieth anniversary
        of any event; as, the jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign;
        the jubilee of the American Board of Missions.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (R. C. Ch.) A church solemnity or ceremony celebrated at
        Rome, at stated intervals, originally of one hundred
        years, but latterly of twenty-five; a plenary and
        extraordinary indulgence granted by the sovereign pontiff
        to the universal church. One invariable condition of
        granting this indulgence is the confession of sins and
        receiving of the eucharist.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A season of general joy.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The town was all a jubilee of feasts. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A state of joy or exultation. [R.] "In the jubilee of his
        spirits." --Sir W. Scott.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  jubilee
       n : a special anniversary (or the celebration of it)

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  73 Moby Thesaurus words for "jubilee":
     anniversaries, anniversary, annual holiday, bicentenary,
     bicentennial, biennial, birthday, bissextile day, celebrating,
     celebration, centenary, centennial, ceremony, commemoration,
     decennial, diamond jubilee, dressing ship, elation, exultation,
     fanfare, fanfaronade, festivity, flourish of trumpets,
     golden wedding anniversary, holiday, holy days, hoopla,
     immovable feast, jubilance, jubilation, leap year,
     marking the occasion, memorialization, memory, merriment, name day,
     natal day, observance, octennial, ovation, quadrennial,
     quasquicentennial, quincentenary, quincentennial, quinquennial,
     raucous happiness, rejoicing, religious rites, remembrance, revel,
     rite, ritual observance, salute, salvo, septennial,
     sesquicentennial, sextennial, show of joy,
     silver wedding anniversary, solemn observance, solemnization,
     tercentenary, tercentennial, testimonial, testimonial banquet,
     testimonial dinner, toast, tribute, tricennial, triennial, triumph,
     wedding anniversary, whoopee
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Jubilee
     a joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great
     semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year.
     During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites
     were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the
     fields (Lev. 25:11, 12). All landed property during that year
     reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-24), and all who
     were slaves were set free (25:39-54), and all debts were
     remitted.
     
       The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of
     trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record
     in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but
     there are numerous allusions (Isa. 5:7, 8, 9, 10; 61:1, 2; Ezek.
     7:12, 13; Neh. 5:1-19; 2 Chr. 36:21) which place it beyond a
     doubt that it was observed.
     
       The advantages of this institution were manifold. "1. It would
     prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the
     detriment of the community at large. 2. It would render it
     impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since
     every one had his hereditary land. 3. It would preclude those
     inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and
     poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. 4. It
     would utterly do away with slavery. 5. It would afford a fresh
     opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances
     to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which
     they had temporarily forfeited. 6. It would periodically rectify
     the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time,
     preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians,
     and preserve the theocracy inviolate."