Definition of "parade"

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.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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

   • And from thir Ivorie Port the CherubimForth issuing at th’accustomd hour stood armdTo thir night watches in warlike Parade,When Gabriel to his next in power thus spake...

     1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 779-782

   • 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

   • Verrall... seldom put on his uniform for morning parade, not thinking it necessary with mere Military Policemen.

     1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Ch. 18”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers

   • 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. (dated) in protest.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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 strikers had announced a parade for Tuesday morning, but Colonel Nixon had forbidden it, the newspapers said.

     1922, Sinclair Lewis, “”, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company

   • 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

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.  examples

4. (venery, uncommon) Synonym of herd: A group of elephants when on the move.  examples

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.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.  examples

The people who make up such a display, particularly

1. (military, now uncommon) The body of soldiers thus assembled.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

(figurative) Synonym of show: any similarly orderly or ostentatious display, especially of a variety of people or a series of things paraded around.  quotations  examples

(UK, figurative, uncommon) A row of shops beside a street.  quotations  examples

(UK, figurative, now uncommon) Short for programme parade: a description of the programming schedule formerly announced on the radio and various television channels.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To take part in a parade, particularly

1. To assemble for inspection, to receive orders, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ... 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

   • Hooper had been detailed to inspect the lines. The company was parading at 0730 hours with their kit-bags piled before the huts.

     1945, Evelyn Waugh, “Prologue”, in Brideshead Revisited […], 3rd edition, London: Chapman & Hall, page 10

2. To march impressively or ostentatiously.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Here it was we made our camp, within plain view of Stirling Castle, whence we could hear the drums beat as some part of the garrison paraded.

     1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 26, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886

3. (transitive) To march past.  examples

4. (transitive) To march through or along.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “What a delightful place Bath is,” said Mrs. Allen as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired;

     1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter IV, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818)

   • At one o’clock the troops were to come in; at two they were to be marshalled; till four they were to parade the parish...

     1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 16, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […]

   • ... since it was no longer possible for him to parade the streets of the town, and be hailed with respect in the usual haunts of his leisure, this sailor felt himself destitute indeed.

     1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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

(transitive) To cause to take part in a parade, particularly

1. To assemble soldiers for inspection, to receive orders, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ... 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

(transitive, obsolete) To furnish with a parade or parades.  quotations

(uncommon) Synonym of parry in both its literal and figurative senses.  quotations  examples