1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Verb. (old).—See quots.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, ii. 2. But who, O! who had seen the
mobled queen Run bare-foot up and down....
1672. Ray, Proverbs, ‘North Country Words,’ s.v. To mab [pronounced
mob], to dress carelessly. Mabs are slatterns.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Mab ... Mab’d up, Drest
carelessly, like a Slattern.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
d. 1728. Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033, Mobb’d up, dresst in a coarse
clownish manner.
Macaroni, 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, Ap. 24. ‘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. 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, Lame Lover, i. 1. Frederick is a bit of macaroni, and
adores the soft Italian termination in a.
1772. G. A. Stevens, Songs Comic & Satyrical, 139. Macaronies so
neat, Pert Jemmies so sweet.
1773. Fergusson, Auld Reekie (Poems, 1851, p. 130). Close by his
side, a feckless race O’ macaronies show their face.
1774. Burgoyne, Maid of the Oaks, ii. 1. All the macaronies passed
by, whistling a song through their toothpicks, and giving a shrug.
1776. Garrick, High Life above Stairs, i. 1. 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. Mrs. Cowling, Who’s the Dupe? ii. 2. You! you for to turn fop
and macaroni!
1785. Grose, 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. C. Lamb, Elia, ‘South Sea House,’ in Works [1852], p. 316. 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. Ainsworth, Rookwood, 1. ix. Though a Frenchman he was a
deuced fine fellow in his day—quite a tip-top macaroni.
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.