[Mac.ca.bees] n pl [Gk Makkabaioi, fr. pl. of Makkabaios, surname of Judas Maccabaeus 2d cent. b.c. Je wish patriot] (1702) 1: 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.
2. sing in constr: either of two narrative and historical books included in the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament and in the Protestant Apocrypha -- Mac.ca.be.an adj