macaroni

Meanings

Noun

• A type of pasta in the form of short tubes; sometimes loosely, pasta in general.
• 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.

Adjective

• Chic, fashionable, stylish; in the manner of a macaroni.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• elbow macaroni

Origin

• From Italian maccaroni, obsolete variant of maccheroni, plural of maccherone. This is of unknown origin, possibly from maccare, which itself is of unknown origin, or from late Ancient Greek μακαρία ("food made from barley").
• Compare Sicilian maccarruni ("a single piece of macaroni").