subs. (old).—1. See quot. 1711. [It. maccarone, now maccherone, a blockhead: cf., Ger. Hanswurst; Fr. Jean-farine; and JACK-PUDDING.]
1711. ADDISON, Spectator, No. 47, 24 April. ‘In the first Place I must observe that there is a Set of merry Drolls whom the Common People of all Countries admire, and seem to love so well that they could eat them, according to the old Proverb: I mean those circumforaneous Wits whom every Nation calls by the Name of that Dish of Meat which it loves best. In Holland they are termed Pickled Herrings; in France Jean Pottages; in Italy MACCARONIES; and in Great Britain Jack Puddings. These merry Wags, from whatsoever Food they receive their Titles, that they may make their Audiences laugh, always appear in a Fool’s Coat, and commit such Blunders and Mistakes in every Step they take, and every Word they utter, as those who listen to them would be ashamed of.’
2. (old).—A dandy from 1760–75. [From the Macaroni Club, which introduced Italian macaroni at Almack’s.]
1764. WALPOLE, To Hertford, 27 May. Lady Falkener’s daughter is to be married to a young rich Mr. Crewe, a MACARONE, and of our loo.
1768. J. HALL-STEVENSON, Makarony Fables (addressed to the Society of MACARONIES) [Title].
1770. Oxford Magazine, iv. 228, 2. There is indeed a kind of animal, neither male nor female, a thing of the neuter gender, lately started up amongst us. It is called a MACARONIE. It talks without meaning, it smiles without pleasantry, it eats without appetite, it rides without exercise.
1770. FOOTE, The Lame Lover, i. 1. Frederick is a bit of MACARONI, and adores the soft Italian termination in a.
1772. G. A. STEVENS, Songs, Comic and Satyrical, ‘The Blood.’
| MACCARONIES so neat, pert Jemmies so sweet, | |
| With all their effeminate brood. |
1773. FERGUSSON, Auld Reikie (Poems, 1851, p. 130).
| Close by his side, a feckless race | |
| O’ MACARONIES shew their face. |
1774. BURGOYNE, The Maid of the Oaks, ii. 1. All the MACARONIES passed by, whistling a song through their toothpicks, and giving a shrug.
1776. GARRICK, Bon Ton, or High Life Above Stairs, i. i. Sir T. This fellow would turn rake and MACARONI if he were to stay here a week longer. Bless me, what dangers are in this town at every step!
1779. HANNAH COWLEY, Who’s the Dupe? ii. 2. Doil. You! you for to turn Fop, and MACCARONI! Why, ’twould be as nateral for a Jew Robin to turn Parson.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1790. The Busy Bee (quoted in), ii. 248.
| Some MACARONIES there came in, | |
| All dressed so neat, and looked so thin. |
1805. G. BARRINGTON, New London Spy (4th ed.), p. 53. The present degenerate race of MACARONIES, who appear to be of a spurious puny breed.
1820. LAMB, The Essays of Elia, ‘The South-Sea House.’ He wore his hair, to the last, powdered and frizzed out, in the fashion which I remember to have seen in caricatures of what were termed, in my young days, MACCARONIES.
1834. W. H. AINSWORTH, Rookwood, I. ix. Though a Frenchman he was a deuced fine fellow in his day—quite a tip-top MACCARONI.
1883. A. DOBSON, Hogarth, p. 56. A slim MACARONI, with his hair in curl papers, and his queue loose like a woman’s tresses.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 14 Aug., p. 5, col. 1. The hat of the MACCARONI has gone out as surely as the lights at Ranelagh, or the masquerades in Soho.
3. (American).—A Maryland regiment noted for its smartness, which took part in the Revolution.—‘Stuck a feather in his cap, and called it MACARONI.’—Yankee Doodle.
4. (rhyming slang).—A pony.
Adj. (old).—1. Foppish; affected; and (2) see quot. 1742. Also MACARONIAN and MACARONICAL.
1596. NASHE, Have with You to Saffron-Walden [GROSART, iii. 47]. One Dick Litchfield … who hath translated my Piers Pennilesse into the MACARONICALL tongue.
1742. CAMBRIDGE, The Scribleriad, b. ii. note 16. The MACARONIAN is a kind of burlesque poetry, consisting of a jumble of words of different languages, with words of the vulgar tongue latinized, and latin words modernized.
1773. GOLDSMITH, She Stoops to Conquer, Epil. Ye travelled tribe, ye MACARONI train.
1806. J. DALLAWAY, Observations on English Architecture, 222. Travellers who have seen … will look on the architecture of Bath, as belonging to the MACARONICK order.
