Jun"gle (?), n. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. jagala desert.]
A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil.
<-- (Fig.) 2. a place of danger or ruthless competition for survival.
"It's a jungle out there"
3. anything which causes difficulty due to intricacy; as a jungle of environmental regulations. (MW10)
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The jungles of India are of bamboos, canes, and other palms, very difficult to penetrate.
Balfour (Cyc. of India).
Jungle bear Zool., the aswail or sloth bear. -- Jungle cat Zool., the chaus. -- Jungle cock Zool., the male of a jungle fowl. -- Jungle fowl. Zool. (a) Any wild species of the genus Gallus, of which several species inhabit India and the adjacent islands; as, the fork-tailed jungle fowl (G. varius) of Java, G. Stanleyi of Ceylon, and G. Bankiva of India. The latter, which resembles the domestic gamecock, is supposed to be one of the original species from which the domestic fowl was derived. (b) An Australian grallatorial bird (Megapodius tumulus) which is allied to the brush turkey, and, like the latter, lays its eggs in mounds of vegetable matter, where they are hatched by the heat produced by decomposition.
© Webster 1913.