macaroni
/,mækə'rouni/
Definition
- Noun:
- A type of pasta: A food made from durum wheat, shaped into short, hollow tubes, typically boiled and served with a sauce.
- An 18th-century British dandy: A historical term for a fashionable man in 18th-century Britain who adopted extravagant styles and mannerisms associated with continental Europe.
Usage Examples
- Noun (Food):
- For dinner, we had macaroni with a rich cheese sauce.
- This recipe calls for two cups of uncooked macaroni.
- Noun (Historical Person):
- The portrait depicted a macaroni in an elaborate powdered wig.
- In the 1770s, a macaroni was known for his flamboyant and affected style.
Advanced Usage
- "Yankee Doodle" reference: The word appears in the American song "Yankee Doodle," where the lyric "stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni" uses the term mockingly. It implies that the simple colonist (Yankee Doodle) thought adding a feather made him as stylish as a sophisticated "macaroni" (dandy), highlighting his naivety about high fashion.
Variants and Related Words
- Macaronic (adj): Pertaining to a style of verse that mixes languages, or by extension, a jumbled mixture. (e.g., ).
- Macaronics (n): Verse of this mixed style.
Synonyms
- Pasta: A general term for Italian dough-based foods like spaghetti, penne, fusilli.
- Dandy, Fop, Beau: Terms for a man excessively concerned with his clothes and appearance.
Related Phrases/Idioms
- "Call it macaroni": Derived from the song, this can be used humorously to describe crudely imitating something sophisticated or giving something a fancy name it doesn't deserve. (e.g., )
Noun
-
pasta in the form of slender tubes
-
a British dandy in the 18th century who affected Continental mannerisms
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Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni
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