Definitions for maccabeesˈmæk əˌbiz
Random House Webster's College Dictionary
Mac•ca•beesˈmæk əˌbiz(n.)
(used with a plural v.) a priestly Jewish family who ruled Judea in the 1st and 2nd centuries b.c. , esp. Judas Maccabaeus and his brothers, who defeated the Syrians in 165? and rededicated the Temple.
Category: Ancient History, Judaism
(used with a sing. v.) either of two books of the Apocrypha, I Maccabees or II Maccabees, that contain the history of the Maccabees.
Category: Judaism
Wiktionary
Maccabees(ProperNoun)
A book of the Old Testament Apocrypha.
Maccabees(ProperNoun)
A Jewish liberation movement who fought for, and established, independence in the Land of Israel during the second and first centuries BC.
Webster Dictionary
Maccabees(u)
the name given later times to the Asmonaeans, a family of Jewish patriots, who headed a religious revolt in the reign of Antiochus IV., 168-161 B. C., which led to a period of freedom for Israel
Maccabees(u)
the name of two ancient historical books, which give accounts of Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books, two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
Maccabees
a body of Jewish patriots, followers of Judas Maccabæus, who in 2nd century B.C. and in the interest of the Jewish faith withstood the oppression of Syria and held their own for a goodly number of years against not only the foreign yoke that oppressed them, but against the Hellenising corruption of their faith at home.
Citation
Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:
"maccabees." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2013. Web. 25 May 2013. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/maccabees>.