• Macaroni

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /ma.kəˈɹəʊ.ni/
    • US enPR: măk'É™-rōʹnÄ“, IPA: /ËŒmækəˈɹoÊŠni/
    • Rhymes: -əʊni

    Origin

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

    Full definition of macaroni

    Noun

    macaroni

    (plural macaronis)
    1. (uncountable) A type of pasta in the form of short tubes; sometimes loosely, pasta in general. from 17th c.
    2. (pejorative, 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.

    Related terms

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