jubilee

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A specially celebrated anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary.
2. n. The celebration of such an anniversary.
3. n. A season or an occasion of joyful celebration.
4. n. Jubilation; rejoicing.
5. n. Bible In the Hebrew Scriptures, a year of rest to be observed by the Israelites every 50th year, during which slaves were to be set free, alienated property restored to the former owners, and the lands left untilled.
6. n. Roman Catholic Church A year during which plenary indulgence may be obtained by the performance of certain pious acts.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. 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.
2. n. 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.
3. n. 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.
4. n. Hence Any exceptional season or course of rejoicing or festivity; a special occasion or manifestation of joyousness.
5. n. The fiftieth year; the year following any period of forty-nine (or sometimes fifty) years.
6. n. A period of fifty years; a half-century.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (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.
2. n. The joyful commemoration held on the fiftieth anniversary of any event
3. n. (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.
4. n. A season of general joy.
5. n. rare A state of joy or exultation.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a special anniversary (or the celebration of it)