jubilee

noun

1. (Jewish, countable)A special year of emancipation supposed to be observed every fifty years, when farming was temporarily stopped, certain houses and land which had been sold could be redeemed by the original owners or their relatives, and Hebrew slaves set free.

   “Touching this yeere of Iubilee is much controverſie. The ancient Authors account it the fiftieth yeere. […] Culuiſius hath at large diſputed this queſtion againſt Creutzhemius and Bucholcerus, by diuers arguments prouing that the Iubilee vvas but fortie nine yeeres complete, and that the fiftieth yeere vvas the firſt onvvards of another Iubilee or Sabbath of yeeres: […]”

   “[I]n the old Israel, there had supposedly been a system of ‘Jubilee’, a year in which all land should go back to the family to which it had originally belonged and during which all slaves should be released.”

2. (broadly, countable, uncountable)A special year (originally held every hundred years, then at more frequent intervals, and now declarable by the Pope at any time and also for periods less than a year) in which plenary indulgences and remission from sin can be granted upon making a pilgrimage to Rome or other designated churches.
3. (broadly, countable, uncountable)A major anniversary of an event, particularly the fiftieth (50th) anniversary of a coronation or marriage.

   “[A] married couple, when celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage-day, are said to keep their golden jubilee, but on the 25th anniversary they have credit only for a silver jubilee.”

   “The 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne will be a good deal more earthbound: The 95-year-old monarch plans to spend a quiet Sunday at her country estate, Sandringham, where her father died on Feb. 6, 1952. Four days of festivities to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee are scheduled for June.”

4. (countable, figuratively)A time for release or restitution.

   “[T]hough it be in the povver of the vveakeſt arme to take avvay life, it is not in the ſtrongeſt to deprive us of death: […] the firſt day of our Jubilee is death; the Devill hath therefore failed of his deſires; vvee are happier vvith death than vve ſhould have been vvithout it: there is no miſery but in himſelfe vvhere there is no end of miſery: […]”

   “"Hurrah! hurrah! we bring the Jubilee! / Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!" / So we sung the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, / While we were marching through Georgia.”

   “The chains of that great power we broke; / The burdened captives were set free, / For Lincoln held the pen, whose stroke / Proclaimed, the year of jubilee.”

5. (countable, figuratively)A time of celebration or rejoicing.

   “But you firſt ſhall taſte / The bounty of our Court, with royall Preſents / Both to the Duke your maſter, and the Princeſſe; / It done, prepare we for this great ſolemnity, / Of Hymeneall Iubilies.”

6. (figuratively, uncountable)Exultation, rejoicing; jubilation.

   “Hee cauſed his little Sonne to goe vvith great State to Sandai to the Dairi, that is, to bovv the head thrice before him dovvne to the Mats, vvho entertayned him vvith a ſolemne feaſt, vvith great Iubilee in alteration of names and titles of honour to the Nobles.”

   “The peoples joy to knovv us reconcild, / Is added to the Iubile of the day, / VVe have no more a faction but one heart, / Peace flovv in every boſome.”

   “Was it for Peveril of the Peak, in the jubilee of his spirits, to consider how his wife was to find beef and mutton to feast his neighbours?”

   “The Mexicans, elated with their success, meanwhile, abandoned themselves to jubilee; singing, dancing, and feasting on the mangled relics of their wretched victims.”

   “We will kiss sweet kisses, and speak sweet words: / O listen, listen, your eyes shall glisten / With pleasure and love and jubilee: […]”

7. (figuratively, uncountable)The sound of celebration or rejoicing; shouts of joy.

   “[…] Heav'n rung / VVith Jubilee, and loud Hoſanna's fill'd / Th' eternal Regions: […]”

   “[S]lowly down the steep descent / Fair Scotland's King and nobles went, / While all along the crowded way / Was jubilee and loud huzza.”

8. (attributive, countable, figuratively, often)A joyful African-American (usually Christian) folk song.
9. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A period of fifty years; a half-century.

   “Hovv their faiths could decline ſo low, as to concede their generations in heaven, to be made by the ſmell of a citron, or that the felicity of their Paradiſe ſhould conſiſt in a Jubile of conjunction, that is a coition of one act prolonged unto fifty years.”

   “And now, being on this subject, once to dispatch [Thomas] Becket out of our way, just a jubilee of years after his death, Stephen Langton, his mediate successor, removed his body from the Under-croft in Christ-church, where first he was buried, and laid him, at his own charge, in a most sumptuous shrine, at the east end of the church.”

10. (countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable)A fiftieth year.

    “But is't poſſible he ſhould believe he is not of age? vvhy / He is 50, man, in's Jubile I vvarrant: s'light, he / Looks older then a groat, the very ſtamp on's face is / VVorne out vvith handling.”

11. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of jubilee (“(Jewish history) special year of emancipation supposed to be observed every fifty years; (Roman Catholicism) special year in which plenary indulgences and remission from sin can be granted”)

    “[T]hough it be in the povver of the vveakeſt arme to take avvay life, it is not in the ſtrongeſt to deprive us of death: […] the firſt day of our Jubilee is death; the Devill hath therefore failed of his deſires; vvee are happier vvith death than vve ſhould have been vvithout it: there is no miſery but in himſelfe vvhere there is no end of miſery: […]”

    “"Hurrah! hurrah! we bring the Jubilee! / Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!" / So we sung the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, / While we were marching through Georgia.”

    “[I]n the old Israel, there had supposedly been a system of ‘Jubilee’, a year in which all land should go back to the family to which it had originally belonged and during which all slaves should be released.”

name

1. A London Underground line which runs between Stratford in East London and Stanmore in northwest London, via the London Docklands, South Bank, and West End.