Definition 1: (1) A mounted procession of horseback riders, horse-drawn carriages or both; (2) a procession of dignitaries; (3) a planned sequence of remarkable events or people, as a show featuring a cavalcade of stars.

Usage 1: "Cavalcade" is one of those words used rather frequently by people who do not have a completely clear idea of its meaning. In 'Australia Visited' (1941), Noel Coward confessed, "I was fortunate to be able to administer a little artificial respiration to the word ‘Cavalcade’. Before I wrote the play of that name, the word had fallen into disuse.... Now...there are...Cavalcades of fashion, Hollywood Cavalcades, ...Cavalcades of practically anything that can be cavalcaded."

Suggested usage: Cavalcades of the original sense (a mounted procession) are a rarity today, but you might want to say, "There were several cavalcades of horse-fanciers in the Rose Parade this year." The word is probably overused in the last two meanings: "A veritable cavalcade of corporate executives are passing through the doors of US courts these days."

Etymology: Today's word was borrowed from French cavalcade, now meaning "stampede," who borrowed it from "cavalcata," the past participle of Old Italian cavalcare "to ride on horseback." The same word in Spanish is "cabalgada." Today's word is related to "cavalry" and "cavalier," which French, for reasons of their own, converted to "chevalerie," which we then borrowed as "chivalry." The Italian word descended normally from Medieval Latin "caballicare" from Latin caballus "horse." This word is related to Black Sea Greek kaballeion "horse-drawn vehicle" and Russian kobyla "mare," and may been borrowed from the ancestor of Finnish hepo "horse." In Classic Greek it turned up as hippos "horse," found in hippopotamus, literally, "river horse."