What it means
A jamboree is a big cheerful bash, usually the organised wholesome sort with loads of people, music, games, stalls, raffles, kids tearing about, and somebody burning the burgers. It’s more village-green energy than wild-night carnage, but it’s still busy, noisy, and properly festive.
Usage examples
"Rocked up to the village jamboree for a cuppa, blinked and it was dark. Ended up skint, covered in ketchup, watching Gazza stack it in the sack race."
"The whole village turned up for the summer jamboree on the green."
"They threw a proper jamboree for the anniversary, music and dancing till dawn."
"Mum said we were popping by the church jamboree for ten minutes and somehow we left with a tombola plant, three brownies, and a sunburn."
"Whole estate was down at the summer jamboree, kids on the bouncy castle and uncles pretending they could still win a tug-of-war."
Where it comes from
The word got popular through Scouting. Robert Baden-Powell used Jamboree for the first World Scout Jamboree in 1920, and from there it stuck as the name for a huge friendly gathering. The exact deeper root of the word is disputed, so the solid bit is its Scout-era spread, not some neat earlier origin story.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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