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. 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.