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.]
1.
Long slender tubes made of a paste chiefly of wheat flour, and used as an article of food; Italian or Genoese paste.
⇒ 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).
2.
A medley; something droll or extravagant.
3.
A sort of droll or fool. [Obs.] Addison.
4.
A finical person; a fop; -- applied especially to English fops of about 1775. Goldsmith.
5. pl. (U. S. Hist.)
The designation of a body of Maryland soldiers in the Revolutionary War, distinguished by a rich uniform. W. Irving.
© Webster 1913