/meuh kah"breuh, -kahb", -kah"beuhr/ , adj.
1. gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible.
2. of, pertaining to, dealing with, or representing death, esp. its grimmer or uglier aspect.
3. of or suggestive of the allegorical dance of death.
Also, macaber .
[ 1400-50; Macabrees daunce danse ( de ) Macabré, of uncert. orig.; perh. to be identified with ML chorea Machabaeorum a representation of the deaths of Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, but evidence is lacking; the F pron. with mute e is a misreading of the MF forms ]