jubilee

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  Design for the Reverse of the Jubilee Medallion
• WordNet 3.6
  • n jubilee a special anniversary (or the celebration of it)
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• • Jubilee (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.
  • Jubilee A season of general joy. "The town was all a jubilee of feasts."
  • Jubilee A state of joy or exultation. "In the jubilee of his spirits."
  • Jubilee (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.
  • Jubilee 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.
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• • n jubilee Among the ancient Jews, according to the law in Lev. xxv., a semi-centennial epoch of general restoration and emancipation, when liberty was to be proclaimed throughout the land with the blowing of trumpets. The year of jubilee was the fiftieth year—each being separated from that which preceded it by an interval of “seven sabbaths of years,” or forty-nine years. In that year the land was not tilled, all lands that had been sold were restored to the original owners or their heirs, and all bondsmen of Hebrew blood were liberated. Whether all debts were canceled, as is commonly supposed, is uncertain; there is no express provision to that effect.
  • n jubilee In the Roman Catholic Church, a year in which remission from the penal consequences of sin is granted by the church to those who repent and perform certain acts. The ordinary jubilee is now granted once in twenty-five years. Extraordinary jubilees are sometimes proclaimed on special occasions. The institution dates from 1300, in the pontificate of Boniface VIII., the interval being then fixed at one hundred years, and plenary indulgence granted to all who visited the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome for a certain number of days with offerings. The period was shortened successively to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years, and certain works of charity and devotion were substituted for the pilgrimage to Rome.
  • n jubilee Now, in general, the completion of the fiftieth year of any continuous course of existence or activity, or a celebration of the completion of fifty years, whether on the anniversary day or in a succession of festivities or observances: as, the jubilee of a town or of a, pastorate; the jubilee of Queen Victoria.
  • n jubilee Hence Any exceptional season or course of rejoicing or festivity; a special occasion or manifestation of joyousness.
  • n jubilee The fiftieth year; the year following any period of forty-nine (or sometimes fifty) years.
  • n jubilee A period of fifty years; a half-century.
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• • n Jubilee jōō′bi-lē the year of release among the Jews every fiftieth year, proclaimed by the sound of a trumpet: the celebration of a fiftieth anniversary—e.g. of a king's accession, a bishop's consecration, &c.: in the R.C. Church, a year (every twenty-fifth—Ordinary jubilee) of indulgence for pilgrims and others, an Extraordinary jubilee being specially appointed by the Pope: any season of great public joy and festivity.
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