MACCABEES

I. noun plural Etymology: Greek Makkabaioi, from plural of Makkabaios, surname of Judas Maccabaeus 2d century B.C. Jewish patriot Date: 1587 a priestly family leading a Jewish revolt begun in 168 B.C. against Hellenism and Syrian rule and reigning over Palestine from 142 B.C. to 63 B.C., either of two narrative and historical books included in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha, Maccabean adjective II. biographical name Judas or Judah died 161 B.C. surname