The Collaborative International Dictionary
kibbutz \kib*butz"\ (k[i^]b*b[oo^]ts; k[i^]b*b[=oo]ts), n.; pl. Kibbutzim. [Modern Hebrew kibbutz gathering.] an Israeli communal[2] form of agricultural settlement. Originally it was predominantly agricultural and practiced a very high level of sharing, including collective rearing of children. More recently (by 1998) industries have taken over a significant role in the Kibbutz economy, and the level of sharing has dropped significantly.
Note: Of several Modern Hebrew words designating unique Israeli forms of agricultural settlement, only the word Kibbutz found its way into English. This may reflect the fact that the Kibbutzim, and only they, have long practiced hosting foreign volunteers from all over the world: youngsters who work on the Kibbutz not for a salary but for boarding and food. Many volunteers come from English speaking countries, and probably via them the word Kibbutz entered modern English dictionaries.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of kibbutz English)
WordNet
n. a collective farm or settlement owned by its members in modern Israel; children are reared collectively
[also: kibbutzim (pl)]
See kibbutz
Usage examples of "kibbutzim".
It was his job to boil out of the horde of abstracts the ultimately important facts: which kibbutzim were going under and which were not.
Felix got _demoted_, from police marshal to police general, because he saw to it, when he could, that in the kibbutzim the students were bathed, fed, their medical supplies looked after, cots provided.
The shelling from the Golan Heights of the kibbutzim in the Huleh Valley grew more intense than ever.
The big guns that had for years been pounding the northern kibbutzim were finally silenced.
The old Sabras and the kibbutzim had risen, and been crushed by the Levites and their ‘peacekeeping’ mercenaries.
In fact, almost all Herbie's affairs to date had been with nubile, occasionally musclebpund, Westchester County kibbutzim girls named Rachel or Ruth or Hanna, warm and fiery-eyed, black-haired people of his own race and faith, whose flesh in the hay had enveloped him in a plump fermented way like fresh bread dough.
Everett had heard of retaliatory raids by kibbutzim to break a few heads in the old quarter.