WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : 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.
Part of Speech : dead.
Definition : 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. [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.

Cf. Macaroon.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913