Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A chewy cookie made with sugar, egg whites, and almond paste or coconut.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small sweet cake, made of sweet-almond meal instead of wheaten flour, and white of eggs.
  • noun A droll; a buffoon. A finical fellow; a fop; an exquisite. Compare macaroni, 3.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small cake, composed chiefly of the white of eggs, almonds or coconut, and sugar.
  • noun obsolete A finical fellow, or macaroni.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A soft biscuit or cookie prepared with almond or coconut dough.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun chewy cookie usually containing almond paste

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French macaron, from Italian dialectal maccarone, dumpling, macaroni, variant of standard Italian maccherone; see macaroni.]

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Examples

  • What most of us know as a macaroon is usually made with coconut, sometimes almond paste, and it's sometimes swirly, sometimes round, frequently dense and often tasty, but rarely light, elegant or ooh-la-la worthy.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • What most of us know as a macaroon is usually made with coconut, sometimes almond paste, and it's sometimes swirly, sometimes round, frequently dense and often tasty, but rarely light, elegant or ooh-la-la worthy.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • What most of us know as a macaroon is usually made with coconut, sometimes almond paste, and it's sometimes swirly, sometimes round, frequently dense and often tasty, but rarely light, elegant or ooh-la-la worthy.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • Cookies have existed since the 600's and appear to have originated in Persia and were popularized and sweetened after they were brought to cookie was named by the Dutch as "Koekje" which was anglicized to become the word: cookies during the American Pilgrimage were the macaroon from the French and the gingerbread cookie from the Dutch.

    Quazen 2009

  • I always thought a macaroon was a chocolate-coconut candy until I saw stuff like this and this.

    Vegas Part 2 Sara 2006

  • I always thought a macaroon was a chocolate-coconut candy until I saw stuff like this and this.

    Archive 2006-08-01 Sara 2006

  • To find unsweetened dried coconut, sometimes called macaroon coconut, try a health-food store, where it's often sold among the bulk goods.

    Starbulletin Headlines 2009

  • To find unsweetened dried coconut, sometimes called macaroon coconut, try a health-food store, where it's often sold among the bulk goods.

    Starbulletin Headlines 2009

  • The English spelling is "macaroon," but the French confection is not to be confused with the dense chewy treat made with sweetened coconut.

    Mon Dieu! Will Newfound Popularity Spoil the Dainty Macaron? Julie Jargon 2010

  • The English spelling is "macaroon," but the French confection is not to be confused with the dense chewy treat made with sweetened coconut.

    Mon Dieu! Will Newfound Popularity Spoil the Dainty Macaron? Julie Jargon 2010

Comments

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  • I've always liked this word. The stuff is quite nice too.

    October 13, 2007