parade

Etymology 1

From French parade (“an ostentatious display, a military display”), from parer (“to beautify, prepare, take pride in”) + -ade probably under influence from earlier Italian parata (“preparation, a military parade, an ostentatious display”) and Latin magnō parātū (“with great preparation”). Various senses similarly influenced by earlier French and Italian uses. Doublet of pare.

noun

1. An organized display of a group of people, particularly
   1. (military) Synonym of military parade: A show of troops, an assembly of troops as a show of force, to receive orders, or especially for inspection at set times.
      There is left round about the circuit of the whole quarter, a parallell on all sides some 200, or 250 foote betweene the front of the quarter and the trench, called an Alarme Place, for the souldiers to draw out into Armes, into Parade, or when any Alarme or commotion happens... 1642, Henry Hexham, The Principles of Art Military, volume II, page 31
      See how the Flow’rs, as at Parade, Under their Colours stand displaid: Each Regiment in order grows, That of the Tulip Pinke and Rose. 1681, Andrew Marvell, “Upon Appleton House...”, Miscellaneous Poems, p. 87, St. 39
      The next night the soldiers began teaching the girls to dance... Claude saw that a good deal was going on, and he lectured his men at parade. But he realized that he might as well scold at the sparrows. 1922, Willa Cather, chapter 17, in One of Ours
      A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence... 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I
   2. A public procession, especially one commemorating a holiday or special event or (dated) in protest.
      They went up with a Parade of 9 or 10 Coaches. 1673–4, Duke of Lauderdale, Lauderdale Papers, Vol. III, p. 36
      When a procession is exceptionally large it is called a Parade. 1888, James Bryce, The American Commonwealth, volume II, page 580
      The author became aware of the term "beadwhore" while viewing a Mardi Gras parade[…] You can't catch anything with those beadwhores around. Even cute kids on the shoulders of their fathers can't compete with boobs. 1995, Nancy J. Herman, Deviance, page 388
      Thanksgiving Day parade
      Mummers Parade
      ticker-tape parade
      The Parade of the Marksmen at the Hanover Schützenfest each July is one of the longest regular parades in the world.
   3. (venery, uncommon) Synonym of gaggle: A group of geese when on the move, particularly a line of goslings shepherded by one or more adults.
   4. (venery, uncommon) Synonym of herd: A group of elephants when on the move.
2. A place reserved for such displays, particularly
   1. (military, now uncommon) Synonym of parade ground: A place specially designated for such displays or for practicing close-order drills.
      Parade, is a Military word, signifying the Place where Troops usually draw together, in order to mount the Guards, or for any other Service. 1704, John Harris, Lexicon Technicum, Vol. I, s.v
      When Barracks are occupied by Troops, the Yards and Parades are to be swept, rolled, and kept clean by them. 1844, The Queen's Regulations & Orders for the Army, page 240
   2. (dated) Synonym of promenade: A route, street, or square frequented by pedestrians or formerly used for military parades.
      This Square is calcled the Parade. 1697, William Dampier, A New Voyage round the World, page 219
      ...at no great distance from them, where the shoreline curved round, and formed a long riband of shade upon the horizon, a series of points of yellow light began to start into existence, denoting the spot to be the site of Budmouth, where the lamps were being lighted along the parade. 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter 47, in Far from the Madding Crowd
      Glasgow's most fashionable Sunday parade, the ‘crawl’ on Great Western-road. 1905 March 28, Daily Chronicle, p. 4
      After walking a mile or two farther, they found that the shore was beginning to be formally embanked, so as to form something like a parade; the ugly lamp-posts became less few and far between and more ornamental, though quite equally ugly. 1914, G. K. Chesterton, “The God of the Gongs”, in The Wisdom of Father Brown, p. 216
   3. (uncommon) Synonym of road, used in place names.
      His shop is located in Chester Pde.
3. The people who make up such a display, particularly
   1. (military, now uncommon) The body of soldiers thus assembled.
      The Commanding Officer is then to direct the Parade to Order Arms. 1844, The Queen's Regulations & Orders for the Army, page 260
   2. The body of promenaders thus assembled.
      We saw a great Parade or kind of Meeting. 1722, Daniel Defoe, The History and Remarkable Life of the Truly Honourable Col. Jacque..., page 126
      ‘Did she go into that parade of people?’ said Ingram. 1873, William Black, Princess of Thule, page 265
4. (figurative) Synonym of show: any similarly orderly or ostentatious display, especially of a variety of people or a series of things paraded around.
   ...the ravishing assault of a well-disciplined diction, in a parade of curiosly-mustered words in their several ranks and files... 1652, Thomas Urquhart, Ecscybalauron (Εκσκυβαλαυρον), p. 282
   Parade (Fr.), an appearance or shew, a bravado or vaunting offer. 1656, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, s.v
   Formes little Different from those of a Gally, to no more Thriving an Intention in reference to the Publick, Then Apothecaries paynt and adorn their Shops which is to delude the Ignorant, and hide from Inspection such Arts as lye more in Parade then Substance. 1659, Francis Osborne, “Conjectural Paradoxes”, in A Miscellany of Sundry Essayes..., page 92
   ...the most virtuous and laudable deed that his whole Life could make any parade of... 1661, Abraham Cowley, A Vision Concerning His Late Pretended Highnesse Cromwell the Wicked, page 58
   What good Conduct does he shew! what Patience exercise! what Subtilty leave untry’d! what Concealment of his Faults! what Parade of his Vertues! what Government of his Passions! 1700, Mary Astell, Some Reflections upon Marriage, page 67
   Be rich, but of your Wealth make no Parade; At least, before your Master’s Debts are paid. 1801, Jonathan Swift, untitled poem, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, volume II, page 420
   ... with all his good and agreeable qualities, there was a sort of parade in his speeches which was very apt to incline her to laugh. 1815, Jane Austen, chapter 9, in Emma, volume I
   Another answers, ‘Let him be, He loves to make parade of pain.’ 1850, Lord Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxi, 35
   Under all her parade of gallantry he divined a great weariness of spirit, a great longing to be at peace with the world... 1928, Radclyffe Hall, chapter 55, in The Well of Loneliness, →OCLC, →OCLC, book 5, section 2, page 497
   ... he applied himself to his Bible morning and night. Its narratives frankly puzzled him—the parade of bearded kings and prophets, their curious ravings. 1993, Carol Shields, chapter 3, in The Stone Diaries, page 85
   Roy: The work was fiiine. There was nothing wrong with the work. But they caught him... He pissed in the sink. Jen: Oh. Oh! Roy: Yeah... Jen: Which sink? Roy: All the sinks. Yeah, he basically went on a pee parade around the house. Jen: Oh God, I have to fire him. 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1
   ... there was a degree of order in the books, a parade of Loeb classics, archaeology, ancient history. 2011, Alan Hollinghurst, The Stranger’s Child, page 325
   The dinner was a parade of courses, each featuring foods more elaborate than the last.
5. (UK, figurative, uncommon) A row of shops beside a street.
   Most new shopping centres... have broken away from the old strip parades which usually face each other across heavy inter-town traffic. 1968, Roger Kenneth Cox, Retail Site Assessment, page 15
6. (UK, figurative, now uncommon) Short for programme parade: a description of the programming schedule formerly announced on the radio and various television channels.
   Scottish Programme Parade 1947 May 2, Radio Times, p. 8
   Listen to your regional Programme Parade at 8.10 a.m. daily. 1948, BBC West, Broadcasting in West:

verb

1. (intransitive) To take part in a parade, particularly
   1. To assemble for inspection, to receive orders, etc.
      ... the other three Companies were ordained by foure a clocke afternoone, to parade in the Market place, and afterwards to march to their Post... 1637, Robert Monro, Monro His Expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment, page 64
   2. To march impressively or ostentatiously.
      No one fights a war in close-order formations any more but officers still love to force their men to parade, coming up with various plausible excuses for their enjoyment of command.
   3. (transitive) To march past.
      After the field show, it is customary to parade the stands before exiting the field.
   4. (transitive) To march through or along.
      They said nothing, but stared at each other with the horror of people exposed to all the torture of the demons who parade the African continent. 1971, Bessie Head, Maru, page 92
   5. (figurative) Synonym of promenade: to walk up and down, especially in public in order to show off and be seen by others.
      The whole family paraded it together. 1753, Samuel Richardson, History of Sir Charles Grandison, volume V, page 46
      ... it was her favorite amusement to array herself in the faded brocades, and parade up and down before the long mirror, making stately curtsies, and sweeping her train about with a rustle which delighted her ears. 1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 19, in Little Women
      … if you’re going to parade around with that robe hanging open you’re going to get yourself some bronchitis. 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 22, in The Dain Curse
      ... Mrs. Parsons, the principal’s wife, would play the graduation march while the lower-grade graduates paraded down the aisles and took their seats below the platform. 1969, Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, page 166
      Stretcher after stretcher paraded into the lot—I was aghast; there seemed no end to them. 2003, Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin, page 381
   6. (transitive, figurative, of vehicles) To move slowly through or among.
      That evening the van of the Party for the Poor also paraded our street. They too blared music and made identical claims. 1991, Ben Okri, The Famished Road, Section 2, Book 6, Chapter 10
   7. (figurative, of waterfowl) To walk in a row led by one parent, often trailed by the other.
      Nearer to the water pink-footed geese and white-faced coots paraded in the groves of rhus and bamboo. 1971, Iris Murdoch, An Accidental Man, page 120
2. (transitive) To cause to take part in a parade, particularly
   1. To assemble soldiers for inspection, to receive orders, etc.
      In a few moments, we were paraded in the frigate’s gangway; the first lieutenant—an elderly yellow-faced officer, in an ill-cut coat and tarnished gold lace—coming up, and frowning upon us. 1847, Herman Melville, chapter 28, in Omoo
      The men were paraded and briefly addressed by the colonel in my presence... 1965, John Fowles, The Magus, page 382
   2. (figurative) Synonym of show off: to display or reveal prominently or ostentatiously, especially in a kind of procession.
      ... For she was not a sentimental mourner, Parading all her sensibility... 1824, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto 16, St. 65, p. 96
      I doubt if any woman on earth has gotten better effects than she has with black, white and red. Not only that, she knows how to parade it when she gets it on. 1942, Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road, page 243
      … I am sure neither of us cares to parade family business in a lawsuit. 1956, Mary Renault, The Last of the Wine, page 150
      Like the railwayman, the industrialist who has set himself up with his own prestige fleet of shining lorries parading his name up and down the country, and has installed a transport manager to look after them, demands full utilisation of both... 1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “"Condor"—British Railways' fastest freight train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 46
      I felt a bit like a hunter who’s captured a unicorn and parades it through the town streets … 1988, Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty, pages 166–167
      They’re parading ad men through Congress to convince the lawmakers that Free Market is the way to go, and that Harry Truman is in league with Karl Marx. 2009, Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna, page 452
      They kidnapped an Indian officer and beheaded him, bringing the head back to be paraded in the bazaars of Kotlin in Pakistani Kashmir. 2013, Nadeem Aslam, The Blind Man’s Garden, Part 2, Ch. 23
      They paraded dozens of fashions past the crowd.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To furnish with a parade or parades.
   The modern part that faces the sea is... paraded, well lighted, well drained. 1889, James John Hissey, A Tour in a Phaeton through the Eastern Counties, page 191

Etymology 2

From French parade (“a parry”), from parer (“to parry, to defend oneself”) + -ade, from Italian parata. Doublet of parry.

noun

1. (uncommon) Synonym of parry in both its literal and figurative senses.
   ...in case the adversary after a finda, going to the parade, discover his brest to caveat... 1652, Thomas Urquhart, Ecscybalauron (Εκσκυβαλαυρον), p. 228
   [The Tutor] should accustom him to make as much as is possible a true Judgment of Men by those Marks which serve best to shew what they are, and give a Prospect into their Inside, which often shews it self in little Things, especially when they are not in Parade, and upon their Guard. 1699, John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, §94, p. 152