Forms: 4–7 iubile, -lee, 6 iubely(e, 7 jubily, jubylee, (gubilie), 7–9 jubile, 7– jubilee. [a. F. jubilé (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), in Sp. jubileo, It. giubbileo, ad. late L. jūbilæus (Vulgate, etc.), used as sb. ‘jubilee,’ but properly an adj. form (sc. annus), after Gr. ἰωβηλαῖος adj. (Origen, Epiphanius, etc.), f. ἰώβηλος ‘jubilee’ (Josephus, Antiq., III. xii. 3), ad. Heb. yōbēl, ‘jubilee,’ orig., it seems, ‘ram,’ hence ‘ram’s horn used as a trumpet,’ with which the jubilee year was proclaimed. The Latin form jūbilæus instead of jōbēlæus shows association of the O.T. word with the native L. jūbilum wild cry, shout, and jūbilāre to shout to, shout, halloo, huzza (see JUBIL v.); and in Christian L. there was established an association of sense between these words and the Hebrew ‘jubilee,’ which has extended to the modern langs. of Western Christendom. In Eng. the word was often, as in the Bible versions, spelt Jubile; this was usually, like the F. jubilé, of 3 syllables; but it was sometimes a disyllable, and referred directly to L. jūbilum or med.L. jūbilus, in the sense of an exultant shout. Cf. also jubil in jubil-trumpet.]
1. Jewish Hist. (more fully year of Jubilee). A year of emancipation and restoration, which according to the institution in Lev. xxv was to be kept every fifty years, and to be proclaimed by the blast of trumpets throughout the land; during it the fields were to be left uncultivated, Hebrew slaves were to be set free, and lands and houses in the open country or unwalled towns that had been sold were to revert to their former owners or their heirs.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xxv. 10. Thow shalt halowe the fyftith ȝeer … he is forsothe the iubilee [ipse est enim jubilæus; 1535 Coverd. Iubilye, 1560 (Geneva) Iubile, 1569 (Bps.) Iubilee, 1611 Iubile]. Ibid., 13. The ȝeer of iubilee [anno jubilæi]. Ibid. (1382), Josh. vi. 4. The prestis shulen taak seuen trompes, whos vse is in the iubile [buccinas, quarum usus est in jubileo].
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 562. Iubely is of this Hebrew word Iobel, which in English, signifieth a Trumpet: a yeare of singuler mirth and ioy, and of much rest.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 126. Touching this yeare of Iubilee is much controversie. Ibid. Scaliger … proving that the Iubilee was but fortie nine yeares complete, and that the fiftieth yeare was the first onwards of another Iubilee or Sabbath of yeares.
1845. Sarah Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., II. 205. In Würtemberg, too, the Israelitish year of jubilee was preached to the peasants.
1897. Driver, Introd. Lit. O. T. (ed. 6), 57. It is impossible to think that … the institution of Jubile is a mere paper-law…. At least so far as concerns the land … it must date from ancient times in Israel.
b. fig. or transf. A time of restitution, remission or release.
c. 1584. in Gasquet & Bishop, Edw. VI. & Bk. Com. Prayer (1890), 10. Days of licence which are called days of jubilee.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., I. iii. You arrive in jubilee, And firme attonement of all boystrous rage.
1611. R. Fenton, Usury, II. xiii. 95. The land if it want a Iubile will in time grow hartlesse.
1614. Earl Stirling, Domes Day, IV. xcv. All prisoners at last, death must enlarge, At that great iubily.
1621. in Elsing, Lords’ Deb. (1870), 110. Moved, whether a generall jubelee shalbe for the debtes, or whether a moderacion?
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 44. The first day of our Jubilee is Death.
1711. Light to Blind, in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 116. Noe one had … apprehension to be punished for his religion thro-out the Brittish empyre, which was a general jubily to those nations.
2. R. C. Ch. A year instituted by Boniface VIII. in 1300 as a year of remission from the penal consequences of sin, during which plenary indulgence might be obtained by a pilgrimage to Rome, the visiting of certain churches there, the giving of alms, fasting three days, and the performance of other pious works.
It was at first appointed to take place every hundred years, but the period was afterwards shortened to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years, and now ‘an extraordinary jubilee is granted at any time either to the whole Church or to particular countries or cities, and not necessarily or even usually for a whole year’ (Cath. Dict., 1885).
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), VIII. 285. Bonefacius the viijthe … grawntede grete indulgences in vthe yere of his governayle [1300], whiche was þe yere iubile to men visitynge the apostles Petyr and Paule. Ibid., Harl. Contin., 491–2. Pope Urban the vjte considerynge this tyme the age of men to decrease, ordeynede this yere to be the yere of iubile, willynge that hit scholde contynue in every xxxti yere folowynge.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 1. I vnderstode the Iubylee and pardon to be at … Seynt Iames in Spayne.
1534. in Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 206. Item vij tables with scriptures uppon them to hange on the altars in the tyme of the Jubyle.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 28. Thys yere was the gret jubele at Powlles.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 7 b. Clemente appoynteth the yere of Iubile, which Boniface the eight had ordained every hundreth yeare, to be nowe everye fiftithe yeare.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., III. (1636), 85. Leo the tenth … sent a Iubile with his pardons abroad.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1702/2. This week was published here a Bull for an Universal Jubily, Granted by the Pope.
1749. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), II. 286. Here … we imagine that a jubilee is a season of pageants, not of devotion.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., II. 146. Bernardino da Polenta, lord of Ravenna … in the jubilee of 1350, beset the roads with his men-at-arms, robbed the male pilgrims, and … dishonoured many of the females.
1900. Cathol. Directory, 184. The conditions of the Great and Universal Jubilee of the Holy Year 1900.
3. The fiftieth anniversary of an event; the celebration of the completion of fifty years of reign, of activity, or continuance in any business, occupation, rank or condition. Silver jubilee (after Silver Wedding), a name for the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary; so Diamond Jubilee, applied to the celebration of the sixtieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 154. Our Sexteyn and oure ffermerer That han been trewe freres fifty yeer, They may now, god be thanked of his looue, Maken hir Iubilee and walke allone.
1548. Latimer, Ploughers (Arb.), 26. Pamperynge of their panches lyke a monke that maketh his Jubilie.
1809. (title) Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland on the Jubilee.
c. 1830. De Quincey, Autobiog. Sk., iv. Wks. 1862, XIV. 131. In Germany … a married couple, when celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage day, are said to keep their golden jubilee; but on the twenty-fifth anniversary they have credit only for a silver jubilee.
1845. Graves, Rom. Law, in Encycl. Metrop., II. 753/1. In 1838, Huschke published … an offering on the occasion of Hugo’s jubilee from the faculty of law at Breslau.
1861. C. Knight, Pop. Hist. Eng., VII. xxix. 526. The 25th of October [1809], was celebrated throughout the Kingdom as ‘The Jubilee’—the fiftieth anniversary of the accession to the throne of George the Third.
1887. Whitaker’s Almanack, 551/1. Henry III. completed his year of Jubilee Oct. 27th, 1266; his great grandson, Edward III., Jan. 24th, 1377; and George III., Oct. 24th, 1810—near 500 years later.
1887. Tennyson (title), The Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
1887. Q. Victoria, in Suppl. to Lond. Gaz., 25 June. The enthusiastic reception I met with … on the occasion of my Jubilee, has touched me most deeply.
1890. Post Card, 16 May. ‘Penny Postage Jubilee—1890. Guildhall, London.’
1897. G. B. Smith, Life Q. Victoria, xii. (Rtldg.), 169. The Royal Jubilee of 1887, and the Diamond Jubilee of 1897, will recall the memorable events of a memorable period in British history.
1898. Daily Tel., 19 July, 5/2. The Rev. Arthur Robins, rector of Holy Trinity, Windsor,… celebrates his ‘silver jubilee’ in the Royal borough to-day. Ibid., 20 July, 8/6. Dr. W. G. Grace was entertained … by the Sports Club, in commemoration of his jubilee match.
† b. A fiftieth year. Obs. rare–1.
c. 1618. Fletcher, Queen Corinth, III. i. He is 50, man, in’s Jubile, I warrant.
† c. A period of fifty years, half a century. Obs.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 41. If there bee any truth in Astrology, I may outlive a Jubilee.
1645. Pagitt, Heresiogr., Ep. Ded. I have lived among you almost a Jubilee.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IV. i. § 12. Edward the third … having reigned a jubilee, full fifty years.
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 249. A Jubilee, of 49 or 50 Years; a Seculum, or an Age, of 100 Years.
4. A season or occasion of joyful celebration or general rejoicing.
1592. Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxv. Then loue me, for beleeue me, so will proue a Iubilie.
1619. Pasquil’s Palin. (1877), 152. It was the day when every Kitchen reekes, And hungry bellies keep a Iubile.
1634. Heywood, Maidenh. lost, III. Wks. 1874, IV. 137. Prepare we for this great solemnity, Of Hymeneall Iubilies.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnar., Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 99. In Heav’n they keep a Jubilee that day, When the good Shepherd brings a weeping Stray.
1804. M. Cutler, in Life, Jrnls. & Corr. (1888), II. 161. The Democrats are all engaged in the celebration of the Jubilee, on the possession of Louisiana.
1899. Daily News, 27 Oct., 2/5. Witness said he was in the habit of drinking himself; he was an old sailor, and had a ‘jubilee’ once in three months.
5. Exultant joy, general or public rejoicing, jubilation.
In this and next sense often written jubile and in some cases pronounced jubil, after L. jūbilum.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W.), 266 b. Fedeth them with ioye and iubile vnspekable.
1635. Shirley, Coronat., II. The people’s joy to know us reconcil’d, Is added to the jubile of the day.
1657. G. Starkey, Helmont’s Vind., 293. The Archeus … with the joy and jubile conceived upon its speedy help found … cheers up all its parts.
1823. Scott, Peveril, iii. 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?
1843. Prescott, Mexico, VI. viii. (1864), 406. They … only thought of their triumph, and abandoned themselves to jubilee.
1899. E. J. Chapman, Drama of Two Lives, Snake-Witch, 29.
| Only the toad, on night like this … | |
| Comes forth in fearless jubilee! |
b. Shouting; joyful shouting; sound of jubilation.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 211 b. God ascended … in great iubylee & glory [Vulg. Ps. xlvi. 6 ascendit Deus in jubilo].
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 348. Heav’n rung With Jubilee, and loud Hosanna’s fill’d Th’ eternal Regions.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., V. xxi. All along the crowded way Was jubilee and loud huzza.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 481. (Zeph. iii.) Singing or the unuttered unutterable jubilee of the heart.
6. attrib. and Comb., as jubilee-bonfire, -coin, -issue, -masquerade, -post-card, -procession, -tree, -trumpet, -type, -year, etc. (Often with special reference to sense 1, 2 or 3; in the last case esp. frequent in the last two decades of the 19th c. in reference to the two ‘Jubilees’ of the reign of Queen Victoria in 1887 and 1897, the Jubilee of Penny Postage in 1890, the Swiss (25 years’) Jubilee of the Postal Union in 1900, and other celebrations.)
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xxv. 28. The bigger shal haue that he bouȝte, vnto the iubilee ȝeer.
1647. Fuller, Good Th. in Worse T. (1841), 92. Few [popes] had the happiness to fill their coffers with jubilee-coin.
1749. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), II. 267. The next day was what was called ‘a jubilee-masquerade in the Venetian manner’ at Ranelagh.
1858. Doran, Crt. Fools, 59. The year 1480 was, in one sense, the very jubilee year of German fools.
1887. Times, 31 Dec., 9/1. The pleasant associations of the Jubilee year will not be poisoned by the memory of public misfortunes.
1891. Philat. Penny Postage Jubilee, 117. The Jubilee celebrations … at the Guildhall … on May 16, 17 and 19 (1890). Ibid., 118. The Jubilee Post Office was more patronised than any other part of the Jubilee exhibition.
1893. Sir W. Harcourt, in Daily News, 15 March, 2/2. The designs for the new coins … were better than the Jubilee issue…. Eighteen millions of the new gold coins issued were … of the Jubilee type.
1897. (title) Illustrated Programme of the Royal Jubilee Procession.
