cavalcade

Etymology

From French cavalcade, from Old French cavalcade, from Old Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare (“to ride on horseback”), from Medieval Latin caballicō, from Vulgar Latin caballus (“horse”). Doublet of chevauchee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkævəlˌkeɪd/, /ˌkævəlˈkeɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪd

Noun

cavalcade (plural cavalcades)

1. A company of riders.
2. A parade.
   • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, Chapter IX, Section iii

     In the second row of the cavalcade were Francie, Fanny's god-daughter, now thirteen years old and already elegant in long frilled pantalettes, tartan skirts, and a leghorn hat with streamers, …

3. A trail ride, usually more than one day long.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     Stranleigh found no difficulty in getting a cavalcade together at Bleacher’s station, an amazingly long distance west of New York.

4. (by extension) A series, a chain (e.g. of events).

   As soon as I visited this website, a cavalcade of dialog boxes started to appear on my screen; that's when I realized my computer was infected with a virus.

Verb

cavalcade (third-person singular simple present cavalcades, present participle cavalcading, simple past and past participle cavalcaded)

1. To move as part of a series or group, such as marchers in a parade or snow in an avalanche, especially in large numbers or in a chaotic or dangerous fashion
   • 1725, John Windhus, “A Journey to Mequinez”, in John Pinkerton, The Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels, Volume 15, Longman et al. (1814), page 478:

     Great numbers of horse were still cavalcading, but […]

   • 1866, Elizabeth Charles, The Draytons and the Davenants, M. W. Dodd, pages 348–9:

     […] although for the most part he believed the devil was too good a general to let his soldiers waste their time in cavalcading about on broom-sticks.

Etymology

Borrowed from French cavalcade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkaː.vɑlˈkaː.də/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧val‧ca‧de
• Rhymes: -aːdə

Noun

cavalcade f (plural cavalcades)

1. horse parade, cavalcade

Pronunciation

• Homophones: cavalcadent, cavalcades

Noun

cavalcade f (plural cavalcades)

1. cavalcade

Verb

cavalcade

1. first-person singular present indicative of cavalcader
2. third-person singular present indicative of cavalcader
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of cavalcader
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of cavalcader
5. second-person singular imperative of cavalcader

Further reading

• “cavalcade” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

From Old French, see cavalcade.

Noun

cavalcade f (plural cavalcades)

1. cavalcade