cavalcade means A procession of riders, vehicles, ships, etc.
cavalcade is pronounced /ˈkæv.əlˌkeɪd/.
Why “cavalcade” is a great word
A formal procession of riders on horseback or in vehicles. From French cavalcade, from Old Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare ("to ride on horseback"), from Medieval Latin caballicō ("to ride"), from Vulgar Latin caballus ("horse"), first attested in English c. 1640. Unlike a parade, which is a public, often pedestrian spectacle of celebration, or a motorcade, which denotes a strictly automotive procession for dignitaries, a cavalcade retains the ceremonial dignity of mounted procession. It is the glint of armor in morning light, the rhythm of hooves on cobblestone, and the dust rising behind a train of carriages bearing ambassadors to a treaty signing—the last echo of an age when arrival itself was a performance of power, and the journey worth watching.
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.
noun
- A procession of riders, vehicles, ships, etc.
- A ceremonial parade.
- A trail ride, usually more than one day long.e.g.“Stranleigh found no difficulty in getting a cavalcade together at Bleacher’s station, an amazingly long distance west of New York.” — 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
- An often dramatic series or chain of events or things.e.g.“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
- 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 fashione.g.“Great numbers of horse were still cavalcading, but […]” — 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
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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