Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a jolly fool, esp. an Italian one.

1711		J. Addison Spectator No. 47 Apr. 24 n.p.: I mean those circumforaneous Wits whom every Nation calls by the Name of that Dish of Meat which it loves best [...] in Italy maccaronies [...] These merry Wags [...] 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.
1757		Garrick Male-Coquette I i: sophia.: I dress’d me as you see, [in Men’s Cloaths] call’d a Chair, and went to the King’s-Arms—and ask’d for my Gentleman, [...] I introduc’d myself as an Italian Nobleman, just arriv’d: Il Marchese di Macaroni—.
c.1773		Macaroni Jester frontispiece: Behold a Monster bursting to the view / Nor Turk, nor Christian, Pagan he, nor Jew; / Nor Sawney Scot, Welch Taff or Irish Honey, / But Manhood’s Jest! — a London Macaroni.
1777		Hants. Chron. 27 Oct. 4/1: This Master Stephen here, a simple tony, / May soon become a pigeon Macarony.
1822		Bell’s Life in London 25 Aug. 1/2: Am I their Jack Pudding, ha? their maccaroni [sic], ha?

2. a fop, a dandy; thus macaroni-stake n., a horserace ridden by a ‘gentleman jockey’; also attrib. [the Macaroni Club, ‘which is composed of all the travelled young men who wear long curls and spying-glasses’ (Horace Walpole ed., Letters of Earl Hertford, 1764). The travelling, suggests the OED, prob. gave the members a taste for foreign foods, hence the name].

1764		H. Walpole 27 May Letters IV (1891) 238: Lady Faulkener’s daughter is to be married to a young rich Mr. Crewe, a Macarone, and of our Loo.
1766		P. de Marivaux Agreeable Surprise (translation) I i: He charms the female heart, oh, la! / The pink of macaronies.
1770		R. King Frauds of London 56: Exotic fopperies, and new fashioned vices [...] of our new English Maccaronies.
1772		G. Stevens ‘The Blood’ Songs Comic and Satyrical 139: Macaronies so neat, / Pert Jennies so sweet.
1773		C. Shadwell Fair Quaker of Deal (rev. edn) I i: I value myself for not being a coxcomb, a macaronie captain.
1774		J. O’Keeffe Tony Lumpkin in Town (1780) 28: Tim.: This cousin of your’s is a tip-top macaroni. Tony.: Yes, he’s a famous mac.
1779		Nocturnal Revels 2 63: The Macaroni Bricklayer, as he is stiled in the print-shops.
1781		Hicky’s Bengal Gaz. 2-9 June n.p.: The Macaroney and Puppy Tribe [...] were prevented splaying their pretty soft delicate figures before the Ladies.
1781		J. Burgoyne Lord of Manor I i: The macaroni’s knapsack—It contains a fresh perfumed fillet for the hair, a pot of cold cream for the face, and a calico underwaistcoat.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 177: Gentlemen of the drop. Are a set of people to be seen in all the great thorough-fares of London [...] They dress quite different, some like farmers and graziers, with a drab coat, a brown two curl wig, boots, spurs, &c., others like walking jockeys, horse-dealers, tradesmen, gentlemen, mackaronies, &c. Some speak Irish, some Welch, and others the West and North Country dialects; they often appear as raw countrymen.
a.1790		C. Dibdin ‘Vauxhall Watch’ Collection of Songs I 57: Pretty women dress’d so tight, / And macaronies what a sight.
1805		G. Barrington New London Spy 53: The present degenerate race of Macaronies, who appear to be of spurious puny breed.
1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 103: De mother of that macarony [...] performed a greater miracle than our Saviour.
1818		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in Paris Letter X 120: ’Twas dark when we got to the Boulevards to stroll / And in vain did I look ’mong the street Macaronis.
1828		(con. 1770) G. Smeeton Doings in London 52: A macaroni made his appearance at an assembly-room, dressed in a mixed silk coat, pink satin waistcoat and breeches, covered with elegant silver net, white silk stockings, with pink clocks, pink satin shoes and large pearl buckles; a mushroom-coloured stock, covered with fine-point-lace, hair dressed remarkably high and stuck full of pearl pins.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 53: He was a deuced fine fellow [...] quite a tiptop macaroni.
1841		‘The Batch Of Cakes’ Dublin Comic Songster 44: The bucks that range about so smart, drest up like simple tonies, / Why, lauk, they are no cakes at all, they’re only macaronies.
1851		‘A Batch of Cakes’ Jolly Comic Songster 238: Dandy lads, with stays and pads, / Dressed out like simple tonies, / Cannot be reckoned cakes at all, / They’re only maccaronies.
1863		(ref. to mid-18C) Shields Dly Gaz. 17 Sept. 3/4: The deeds which delighted the buckskin breeches and cocked hats of our Maccaronis and Mohawks in the days of the second George.
1874		Pall Mall Gaz. 14 Apr. 11/2: A Maccaroni, with his affected airs and fanciful attire, is not now a very conceivable creature.
1880		(ref. to 18C) Manchester Courier 4 Aug. 6/1: Mohawks and Maccaronis had plenty of shillings in those days.
1885		Newcastle Courant 20 Feb. 2/3: Though an exquisite in dress and manner [he was] by no means a representative of the ‘maccaroni,’ ‘fribbles’ [...] or ‘swells’ of various periods.
1890		(ref. to 1764) Graphic (London) 29 Nov. 19/1: In 1764 [...] the ‘Maccaronis,’ the ‘curled darlings’ of the day, were gaily ruining their fortunes.
1899		H. Lawson ‘The Songs They Used to Sing’ in Roderick (1972) 386: Yankee Doddle came to town / Upon a little pony — / Stick a feather in his cap, / And call him Maccaroni.
1929		J.B. Priestley Good Companions 15: Though they did not know it, they were in truth the last of a long line, the last of the Macaronis, the Dandies, the Swells, the Mashers, the Knuts.
1938		C. Beaton Cecil Beaton’s N.Y. 171: The boy, a macaroni in dress, his long, seemingly boneless limbs encased in grey check.

3. (W.I., also maccarony) one shilling (post-1969 value 10 cents) [? the tip commonly proffered by a dandy].

1816		M. Lewis 6 Mar. Journal of a West India Proprietor (1834) 209: I sent him a maccarony for behaving well. [Ibid.] 238: I also gave every man and woman half a dollar each, and every child a maccarony (fifteen pence) as a parting present.
1833		M. Scott Tom Cringle’s Log (1862) 244: Oh, massa, one macaroni*, if you please. (*A quarter dollar).
1873		C. Rampini Letters from Jamaica 95: The negro nomenclature of coins is as follows: – [...] Mac (macaroni), a shilling.
1909		‘Tom Redcam’ One Brown Gal 30/1: To see him squeeze dem tax payer by de neck back, till dem cough up de money [...] ebery maccaroni.

4. (also macaroni bender) an Italian [note synon. US regional use macaroni-smacker, macaroni-snapper].

[1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 25 Apr. 20/1: O, happy Maranzoni! / Take our advice and stay / In your land of Macaroni. / If out here you rode that way, / [...] / O, believe us, Maranzoni, / You would hang as sure as death].
1887		F. Francis Jr Saddle and Mocassin 102: Mac (an abbreviation, by the way, of ‘Macaroni’) [...] was an Italian by birth.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ I Need The Money 76: Why a mob of real Macaronis hustled me away from the main push.
1905		N.Y. Tribune 5 Aug. 8/2: In Holland they are termed ‘Pickled Herrings,’ in France ‘Jean Porages,’ in Italy ‘Macaronies,’ and in great Britain ‘Jack Puddings’.
1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier 138: Macaroni.—An Italian soldier.
1940		S. Lister Mistral Hotel (1951) 11: It is as well [...] that I do not have to kill these macaronis.
1954		R. Service ‘The Macaronis’ in Carols of an Old Codger 42: Italian people peaceful are.
1956		‘Toney Betts’ Across the Board 283: ‘Look at that macaroni bender,’ they laughed.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 129: macaroni [...] 2. (pej) an Italian.
1985		M. La Sorte La Merica (2003) 138: an Italian was not an Italian. He was a wop, dago, duke, gin, tallty, ghini, macaroni or spaghetti or spaghetti bender. He was also Hey Boy or Hey Youse, or he was given a generic name: Joe, Pete, Tony, Carlo, Dino, Gumba.
1985		E. Leonard Glitz 115: The macaronis are shooting each other.

5. the Italian language.

1927

(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 39: ‘Che sara sara.’ [...] ‘Wot lingo’s that?’ ‘Meant to be Italian.’ ‘Macaroni, eh?’].