Macaroni

n. [Prov. It. macaroni, It. maccheroni, Sp. maccarrones, from Gr. μακαρία, βρῶμα ἐκ ζωμοῦ καὶ ἀλφίτων, Hesych., properly happiness, bliss, i. e., a very dainty food, from μάκαρ, μακάριος, blessed, happy.

1Sense 1. An article of food composed of a paste chiefly of wheat flour made into long, slender tubes; Italian or Genoese paste.

2Sense 2. A medley; something extravagant, to please an idle fancy.

3Sense 3. A sort of droll or fool; a fop; a finical fellow; a beau; an exquisite.

4Sense 4. (pl.) (Am. Hist.) A body of soldiers from Maryland, in the war of the Revolution, so called on account of their showy uniform.

These were Haslet’s Delaware and Smallwood’s Maryland regiments; the latter the Macaronis, in scarlet and buff, who had outshone, in camp, their yeoman fellow-soldiers in homespun. W. Irving.

It was indeed a desperate fight, and now Smallwood’s Macaronis showed their game spirit. W. Irving.

n. 1. A heap of things confusedly mixed together; a jumble.

2Sense 2. A kind of burlesque composition, in which the vernacular words of any one modern language are intermixed with genuine Latin words, and also with hybrids formed by adding Latin terminations to native roots.