prop. a. Of or pertaining to Judas Maccabeus or to the Maccabees; as, the Maccabean princes; Maccabean times. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. 1. The name given in 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. Schaff-Herzog. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A type of wheat (Triticum durum) with hard dark-colored kernels high in gluten and used for bread and pasta; grown especially in South Russia, North Africa, and North central North America.
Syn. -- durum, durum wheat, hard wheat, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A gambling game in vogue in the eighteenth century. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ From a district in the Island of Martinique where it is made: cf. F. macouba. ] A kind of snuff. [ 1913 Webster ]