macaroni

From Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni”), plural of maccherone, possibly from maccare (“bruise, batter, crush”), which is of unknown origin, or from late Ancient Greek μακαρία (makaría, “food made from barley”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ma.kəˈɹəʊ.ni/
• (US) enPR: măk'ə-rōʹnē, IPA^(key): /ˌmækəˈɹoʊni/
• Rhymes: -əʊni

macaroni (countable and uncountable, plural macaronis or macaronies)

1. (uncountable) A type of pasta in the form of short tubes; sometimes loosely, pasta in general. [from 17th c.]
2. (derogatory, now historical) A fop, a dandy; especially a young man in the 18th century who had travelled in Europe and who dressed and often spoke in an ostentatiously affected Continental manner. [from 17th c.]
   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. XI:

     Delicate lace ruffles fell over the lean yellow hands that were so overladen with rings. He had been a macaroni of the eighteenth century, and the friend, in his youth, of Lord Ferrars.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     A small, noisy party of Fops, Macaronis, or Lunarians,—it is difficult quite to distinguish which,—has been working its way up the street.

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:macaroni.

• (fop): See Thesaurus:dandy

• elbow macaroni
• See also Thesaurus:pasta

• macaronic

• Wikipedia article on macaroni (pasta)
• Wikipedia article on macaronies

• Marocain, armoniac, armonica, marocain

• Audio

  (file)

macaroni m (uncountable)

1. macaroni

From Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni (“macaroni”), plural of maccherone, of uncertain origin.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ka.ʁɔ.ni/

macaroni m (plural macaronis)

1. (usually in the plural) macaroni
2. (ethnic slur) wop; a person of Italian descent.

• rital

• “macaroni” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• Marocain, marocain