sabbatical year: Meaning and Definition of

sabbat'ical year'

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. Also called(in a school, college, university, etc.) a year, usually every seventh, of release from normal teaching duties granted to a professor, as for study or travel.
  2. a yearlong period to be observed by Jews once every seven years, during which the fields were to be left untilled and all agricultural labors were to be suspended. Lev. 25. Cf.(def. 6).
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.