Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages.
  • noun A ceremonial procession or display.
  • noun A succession or series.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A procession or train, as of persons on horseback or in carriages.
  • To ride in or form part of a procession.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A procession of persons on horseback; a formal, pompous march of horsemen by way of parade.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A company of riders.
  • noun A parade.
  • noun A trail ride, usually more than one day long.
  • noun by extension A series, a chain (e.g. of events).
  • 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 fashion

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a procession of people traveling on horseback

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from Old French, from Old Italian cavalcata, from cavalcare, to ride on horseback, from Medieval Latin caballicāre, from Latin caballus, horse.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from Old French, from the Old Italian cavalcata from cavalcare, which meant to ride on horseback, from Medieval Latin caballicāre, from the Vulgar Latin caballus, which means horse.

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Examples

  • Scientology public affairs director for Scotland, Gordon Reid, said: The purpose of the cavalcade is to provide help to people.

    Protest against Scientology cult recruitment on Edinburgh streets 2008

  • Albert Hoffer was favoured by her protectress, and the three passed in cavalcade before my smoky window.

    The Mortal Immortal 1834

  • Metro police vehicles to do scene control, the SAPS, and thrown into the cavalcade are the towtruck drivers.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2004

  • They're leading a four year boycott with this intense morally superior rhetoric cavalcade, which is just disturbing.

    CNN Transcript Jul 29, 2001 2001

  • The cavalcade was a weird and picturesque sight, the riders with their many-colored dresses, their matchlocks with red flags, their jewelled swords, their banners with long ribbons of all colors flying in the wind -- all galloping furiously, shouting, yelling, and hissing, amid a deafening din of thousands of horse-bells.

    An Explorer's Adventures in Tibet Arnold Henry Savage Landor 1894

  • The cavalcade was a weird and picturesque sight, the riders with their many-coloured dresses, their matchlocks with red flags, their jewelled swords, their banners with long ribbons of all colours flying in the wind; all galloping furiously, shouting, yelling and hissing, amidst a deafening din of thousands of horse-bells.

    In the Forbidden Land Arnold Henry Savage Landor 1894

  • "But does your foolish old hen suppose that this entire cavalcade, which is bound on an important adventure, is going to stand still while she lays her egg?" enquired the Tin Woodman, earnestly.

    Ozma of Oz 1887

  • Next in the cavalcade is a chanter or reader of the Musseeah, who selects passages from that well-arranged work suited to the time when Hosein's person was the mark for Yuzeed's arrows, and which describe his conduct on the trying occasion; one or two couplets being chanted, the procession advances in slow time, halting every five minutes on the way from the beginning to the end of the march.

    Observations on the Mussulmauns of India Descriptive of Their Manners, Customs, Habits and Religious Opinions Made During a Twelve Years' Residence in Their Immediate Society Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali 1885

  • It could hardly be termed a cavalcade, as it consisted of an atajo of pack-mules, with some carretas drawn by oxen.

    The White Chief A Legend of Northern Mexico Mayne Reid 1850

  • Lopez said the cavalcade is the first of several events whose objective is to attract participants not only from Dodge City and surrounding areas, but also from the rest of Kansas and other states.

    Dodge City Daily Globe Home RSS 2010

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  • “The scene ends badly, as you might imagine, in a cavalcade of anger and fear.�? ~ The Mountain Goats

    January 28, 2007