\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.
Note: 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. [Obs.] --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.