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jungle gym

jungle gym

10 2.2
A frame of bars for children to climb and play on
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒʌŋɡl dʒɪm/
  • US
translation icon : estructura para trepar
  • After school, Sarah enjoys climbing high on the jungle gym with her friends.
  • swings and jungle gym
  • jungle gym and slide
  • climb the jungle gym

It's like a big, huge jungle gym and they can play in their slides, places that they can pee and be sick.

Examples

  • Outside, she supervised the children as they scrambled over the jungle gym and used the swings to soar, nearly weightless, toward the sky.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • All that time on the jungle gym sure is paying off.

  • When I was 9, I fell off this jungle gym.

  • You guys just go back and have fun on your jungle gym, okay?

  • Built along the left perimeter was a wooden swing set and jungle gym.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Children were playing on the swings and jungle gym while their mothers watched them from a nearby picnic area.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • A dream playground, crowded with laughing children playing on swings, slides, and a jungle gym.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Veronica was fearlessly climbing jungle gyms and swooshing down steep slides.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The children laughed and played as they climbed the colorful jungle gym in the park.

  • Every afternoon, the local kids gather at the jungle gym to swing and slide.

Synonyms

climbing frame
vsjungle gym
  • UK
2.3

A set of bars or ropes in a playground that children use to go up and down on

emphasizes interconnected bars and rods rather than using logs

How Challenging

uneven parallel bars
  • Specialized
1 5.5
balance beam
4 4.4
jungle gym
  • US
10 2.2

Surface Forms

jungle gym singular
jungle gyms plural

Morphology

jungle + gym

The components 'jungle' (dense, tangled vegetation) and 'gym' (place for physical activity) give a metaphorical image of a tangled exercise structure; a B1 learner can therefore infer it's some kind of play/exercise apparatus. However, the specific idea of a metal climbing frame for children is a conventionalized sense that relies on cultural knowledge of playground equipment, so the relation is partially but not fully predictable.

Etymology

Jungle gym gets its name from the picture of a small 'jungle' made of bars that children can climb. Makers called it a jungle because kids climb and swing like monkeys and gym because it is a place for play and exercise, so today it means 'a climbing frame at a playground'.