"process of laying roads according to the system of John L. McAdam;" 1824, noun of action from macadamize (see macadam).

"to cover (a road) with gravel and broken stone according to the system of John L. McAdam," 1824 (implied in macadamizer), from macadam + -ize. In early use also mcadamize. Related: Macadamized; macadamizing. Also macadamise, macadamised.

Australian evergreen tree, commercially important for its edible nut, 1904, from Modern Latin (1858), named for Scotland-born chemist Dr. John Macadam, secretary of the Victoria Philosophical Institute, Australia, + abstract noun ending -ia.

East Indian monkey, 1757, from French macaque, from Portuguese macaco "monkey," a Bantu word brought from Africa to Brazil (where it was applied 17c. to a type of monkey there). Introduced as a genus name 1840.

1610s, in literature, in reference to a form of verse consisting of vernacular words in a Latin context with Latin endings; applied loosely to verse in which two or more languages are jumbled together with little regard to syntax but so constructed as to be intelligible; from Modern Latin macaronicus (coined 1517 by Teofilo Folengo, who popularized the style in Italy), from dialectal Italian maccarone (see macaroni), in reference to the mixture of words in the verse: "quoddam pulmentum farina, caseo, botiro compaginatum, grossum, rude, et rusticanum" [Folengo].

"tube-shaped food made of dried wheaten paste" [Klein], 1590s, from southern Italian dialectal maccaroni (Italian maccheroni), plural of maccarone, name for a kind of pasty food made of flour, cheese, and butter, possibly from maccare "bruise, batter, crush," which is of unknown origin, or from late Greek makaria "food made from barley."

Originally known as a leading food of Italy (especially Naples and Genoa), it was used in English by 1769 to mean "a fop, a dandy" ("typical of elegant young men" would be the sense in "Yankee Doodle") because it was an exotic dish in England at a time when certain young men who had traveled the continent were affecting French and Italian fashions and accents (and were much mocked for it).

There is said to have been a Macaroni Club in Britain by 1764, composed of young men who sought to introduce elegancies of dress and bearing from the continent, which was the immediate source of this usage in English. Hence the extended use of macaroni as "a medley; something extravagant to please idle fancy" (by 1884).

1610s, "small sweet cake made of ground almonds (instead of flour) and whites of eggs," from French macaron (16c.), from dialectal Italian maccarone, the name of a kind of pasty food made of flour, cheese, and butter (see macaroni). The French meaning is said to have been introduced 1552 by Rabelais. The -oon ending was conventional in 15c.-17c. English to add emphasis to borrowings of French nouns ending in stressed -on.

name of a district on the island of Celebes (modern Sulawesi), 1660s, from native Mangkasara. Especially in Macassar oil (1809), trade name of a hair tonic "grandiloquently advertised in the early part of the 19th century" [OED] and said to be made from materials obtained from Macassar.

from Portuguese corruption of southern Chinese ama (name of a patron goddess of sailors) + ngao "bay, port."

species of large, long-tailed American parrots, 1660s, from Portuguese macau, from a word in a Brazilian language, perhaps Tupi macavuana, which may be the name of a type of palm tree the fruit of which the birds eat.