| macabre also macaber \ adj. [from French, (danse) macabre, dance of death,
from Middle French (danse) macabré, (danse de) Macabré, from Macchabées,
Maccabees, 2nd-1st century B.C. Jewish patriots; probably from their being
associated with death because of a passage in 2 Macc (12:43-46) that is important
in the development of the concepts of purgatory and prayers for the dead]
1 : concerned with death or having death as a subject : comprising or including
a personalized representation of death [German baroque poems containing
macabre blazons, describing ... the parts of the dead body --Leo Spitzer]
--compare danse macabre 2 : concerned with or dwelling unduly on the grim,
grisly, or gruesome : designed to produce an effect of horror [a macabre
presentation of a tragic story] --often used absolutely [a writer specializing
in the macabre] 3 : tending to produce horror in a beholder : horrible,
distressing, unpleasant [this macabre procession of starving peasants]
[government couldn't resist the macabre impulse to set down a huge, modern
atomic establishment ... in such an old-time, idyllic spot --Conrad Richter]
danse macabre \ n, pl danses macabres \ [French, literature, macabre dance]
1 : a medieval dance or procession in which a skeleton representing death leads
other skeletons or living persons to the grave -- called also dance of death
2 : something that evokes horror as would a danse macabre
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