macabre

macabre
[15] Macabre is now used generally for ‘ghastly’, but that is a late 19th-century development. It originated in the very specific phrase dance macabre, which denoted a dance in which a figure representing death enticed people to dance with him until they dropped down dead. This was borrowed from French danse macabre, which was probably an alteration of an earlier danse Macabé. This in turn was a translation of medieval Latin chorea Machabaeorum ‘dance of the Maccabees’, which is thought originally to have referred to a stylized representation of the slaughter of the Maccabees (a Jewish dynasty of biblical times) in a medieval miracle play.

The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins. 2013.

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  • macabre — [ makabr ] adj. • danse macabre, danse MacabréXIVe; probablt d un n. pr. Macabé→ macchabée 1 ♦ Danse macabre : représentation allégorique de la Mort entraînant dans une ronde des personnages de toutes conditions. 2 ♦ (1842) Qui a pour objet les… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Macabre — is a quality of certain artistic or literary works, characterized by a grim or atmosphere. In these works, there is an emphasis on the details and symbols of death. Macabre themes are often preoccupations in the Goth subculture. Themes are… …   Wikipedia

  • Macabre — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Macabre es un álbum de Dir en grey lanzado en Septiembre 20, 2000. es el primer disco de la banda en colaboración con Firewall de Free Will y Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Track listing # Título Duración Música* 1… …   Wikipedia Español

  • macabre — (m[.a]*k[aum] b[ e]r) adj. 1. portraying human injury or death in a way so as to inspiring shock or horror; gruesome; ghastly; as, macabre tortures conceived by madmen. [Also spelled {macaber}.] Syn: ghastly, grisly, gruesome, lurid. [WordNet… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Macabre — Allgemeine Informationen Genre(s) Death Metal Gründung 1985 Website http://www.mindmelt.com/macabr …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • macabre — (adj.) early 15c., from O.Fr. (danse) Macabré (dance) of Death (1376), probably a translation of M.L. (Chorea) Machabæorum, lit. dance of the Maccabees (leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syro Hellenes; see MACCABEES (Cf. Maccabees)). The… …   Etymology dictionary

  • macabre — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ disturbing and horrifying because concerned with death and injury. ORIGIN French, from Danse Macabre dance of death , perhaps from Macabé a Maccabee (a member of a 2nd century BC Jewish sect led by Judas Maccabaeus), with reference… …   English terms dictionary

  • macabre — [məkä′bərmə käb′rə, mə käb′, məkä′bər] adj. [Fr < OFr ( danse) Macabré, (dance) of death, prob. altered < ML ( Chorea) Machabaeorum, lit., dance of the Maccabees (see MACCABEES): semantic connection obscure] grim and horrible; gruesome;… …   English World dictionary

  • Macabre — (fr., spr. Makaber), 1) in England u. Frankreich ehemals kirchliche Maskerade; 2) der Todtentanz, s.d …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Macabre — (Danse m., franz., spr. dangß makābr ), soviel wie Totentanz (s. d.) …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Macabre — (Danse M., spr. dangs makahbr), s. Totentanz …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

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