Word: macaroni Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Italian maccaroni (plural of maccarone (archaic variant of maccheroni (“fool”))), of uncertain origin. Variously derived from late Byzantine Greek μακαρία (makaría, “food made from barley”), from Ancient Greek μάκαρ (mákar, “blessed; favored by the gods”), or from maccare (archaic variant of ammaccare (“to bruise; to crush”)), from Latin maccāre of the same meaning. Compare Sicilian maccarruni (“a single piece of macaroni”). * As a fop, apparently from the British Macaroni Club rather than from Italian use of maccarone for fools and bumpkins. * As a former form of currency, used to calque Spanish macuquino (18th-century colonial slang for a similarly clipped coin). Pronunciation: /mæk.əˈɹəʊ.ni/, /ˌmæk.əˈɹoʊ.ni/ 1. A type of pasta in the form of short tubes, typically boiled and served in soup, with a sauce, or in melted cheese; a dish of this. Labels: uncountable Example: Take half a pound of small pipe-macaroni. Example: "I can recommend this macaroni, for it is my favourite dish: I am very national. You will not take any? Ah, young ladies are, or ought to be, light eaters. Your ladyship will, I trust, set your fair companion an example." 2. Pasta, particularly thicker noodles, spaghetti. Labels: broadly, informal, obsolete, uncountable Example: Paste made into strings like pack-thread or thongs of whit-leather (which if greater they call Macaroni, if lesser Vermicelli) they cut in pieces and put in their pots as we do oat-meal to make their menestra or broth of. Example: MACARONI... is a preparation of wheat originally peculiar to Italy, in which country it is an article of food of national importance. The same substance in different forms is also known as vermicelli, pasta or Italian pastes, taglioni, fanti, &c. 3. Synonym of gnocchi (“Italian dumpling made of potato or semolina”). Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: Maccaróni, a kind of meat made of round peeces of paste, boyled in water and put into a dish with butter, spice and grated-cheese vpon them. Example: He doth learne to make ſtrange ſauces, to eat ænchouies, maccaroni, bouoli, fagioli, and cauiare, becauſe hee loues ’hem; […] 4. A dandy or fop, particularly in the 18th century a young Englishman who had travelled in Europe and subsequently dressed and spoke in an ostentatiously affected Continental manner. Labels: countable, derogatory, historical Example: ... the Maccaroni Club (which is composed of all the travelled young men who wear long curls and spying-glasses) ... Example: Lady Falkener's daughter is to be married to a young rich Mr. Crewe, a Macarone... 5. A 19th-century quarter-silver dollar coin, typically a full 2-real coin or a quarter clipping of an 8-real coin from Central or South America. Labels: Caribbean, countable, historical Example: The silver coins are dollars (6s. 8d.), half dollars, and quarter dollars, or maccaronies as they are here popularly called. 6. Ellipsis of macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus). Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis Example: 15 penguins were hatched and reared in the Edinburgh Zoo—seven kings, four gentoos, three maccaronis, and one ringed. 7. Synonym of Italian (“a person from Italy or of Italian ethnicity”). Labels: countable, ethnic, slur Example: Surely I shall always be able, go where I will, among frogs or maccaronis, to procure sucre noir, or inchiostro nero. 8. Ellipsis of macaroni tool. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, obsolete Example: Now take the maccaroni and cut away the wood on either side of the vein... 9. Synonym of lizard canary. Labels: Scotland, countable, obsolete Example: Lizards are known among Scotchmen as ‘macaronies’. 10. A mix of languages in macaronic verse. Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: ... political songs in Latin or in a maccaroni of Latin and English ... 11. Nonsense; meaningless talk. Labels: Australia, slang, uncountable Example: Yes. Jam, macaroni, cockadoodle. We're plain people out hereaways, not mantle ornaments.