macaroni

/,mækə'rouni/

Thân thiện

Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.

Definition

1. 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., )

Học thuật

Noun

1. pasta in the form of slender tubes
2. a British dandy in the 18th century who affected Continental mannerisms
   • Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni