The Collaborative International Dictionary
Macaroni \Mac`a*ro"ni\, n.; pl. Macaronis, or Macaronies. [Prov. It. macaroni, It. maccheroni, fr. Gr. ? happiness, later, a funeral feast, fr. ? blessed, happy. Prob. so called because eaten at such feasts in honor of the dead; cf. Gr. ? blessed, i. e., dead. Cf. Macaroon.]
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Long slender tubes made of a paste chiefly of a wheat flour such as semolina, and used as an article of food; a form of Italian pasta.
Note: A paste similarly prepared is largely used as food in Persia, India, and China, but is not commonly made tubular like the Italian macaroni.
--Balfour (Cyc. of India). A medley; something droll or extravagant.
A sort of droll or fool. [Obs.]
--Addison.A finical person; a fop; -- applied especially to English fops of about 1775, who affected the mannerisms and clothing of continental Europe.
--Goldsmith.pl. (U. S. Hist.) The designation of a body of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War, distinguished by a rich uniform.
--W. Irving.
Usage examples of "macaronis".
Mama Macaroni, Mario Macaroni, and Gina Macaroni were the principals, and a bunch of miscellaneous Macaronis helped out when needed.
I dialed Bonnie Sue and asked her if there were any Macaronis in the store.
The Macaronis were represented by Mr Fox, looking heavy-eyed, as well he might, having sat till three in the afternoon playing hazard at Almack’s.
The Macaronis, mincing, simpering, sniffing at crystal scent-bottles, formed a startling contrast to the Bucks, the young sparks who, in defiance of their affected contemporaries, had flown to another extreme of fashion.
Mr Drelincourt’s hat was adorned with flowers and ribands and was held by several other Macaronis to be a vastly pretty affair.
One of these macaronis with the aluminum foil hairdo, you know, so they don't get too many of them weirdball radio signals from outer space, one of these wackheads goes right through the metal detector.
The applause was deafening, but she didn't come back, and there were sighs and a few groans when the curtain went up again on the next act of the opera, and those damned Macaronis began yelping again.
The whole thing came together complete in Daniel’s head when he sat in that coffeehouse in Charing Cross and looked at the courtiers, macaronis, swells, and fops streaming in from the new town-houses going up on land that had been incinerated, or that had been open pastures, four years earlier.