Wiktionary

cavalcade

See also: cavalcadé

English

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WOTD – 17 October 2006

Etymology

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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

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Noun

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cavalcade (plural cavalcades)

  1. (collective) A procession of riders, vehicles, ships, etc.
    Synonym: company
    • 1949 November and December, O. S. Nock, “Twenty-Four Hours at York—2”, in Railway Magazine, pages 357–358:
      To the onlooker, and particularly to those whose memories go back to pre-grouping days, the modern cavalcade of "V2s" and "B1s" is apt to become a little monotonous; but to any running man the general utility characteristics of these two classes are a perfect godsend at times of exceptional pressure, when it is often a case of "first in—first out" with locomotive allocations at sheds.
  2. A ceremonial parade.
    Synonyms: parade, procession
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      For the first three hours all went as well as could be expected, and then an accident happened that nearly lost us the pleasure of the company of our venerable friend Billali, whose litter was leading the cavalcade.
    • 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[1]:
      Stranleigh found no difficulty in getting a cavalcade together at Bleacher’s station, an amazingly long distance west of New York.
  4. (by extension) An often dramatic series or chain of events or things.
    Synonyms: chain, series
    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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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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[2], 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.

Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French cavalcade.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌkaː.vɑlˈkaː.də/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ca‧val‧ca‧de
  • Rhymes: -aːdə

Noun

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cavalcade f (plural cavalcades or cavalcaden, diminutive cavalcadetje n)

  1. horse parade, cavalcade

French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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cavalcade f (plural cavalcades)

  1. cavalcade

Verb

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cavalcade

  1. inflection of cavalcader:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French, see English cavalcade.

Noun

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cavalcade f (plural cavalcades)

  1. cavalcade
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