Did You Know?
When "cavalcade" was first used in English, it meant "a horseback ride" or "a march or raid made on horseback." Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, used it this way in his 1647 History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England : "He had with some Troops, made a Cavalcade or two into the West." From there came the "procession of riders" meaning and eventual applications to processions in a broader sense. "Cavalcade" came to English via French from the Old Italian noun "cavalcata," which in turn came from an Old Italian verb, "cavalcare," meaning "to go on horseback." Ultimately, these words came from the Latin word "caballus," meaning "horse."