cascade — English Dictionary

cascade
Pronunciations (4)
  • /kæsˈkeɪd/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Canada
    • Received-Pronunciation
    • US
  • /kæsˈkæɪd/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
  • /kɛsˈkæɪd/
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • kæsˈkeɪd

Noun

  1. A waterfall or series of small waterfalls.

    Examples

    Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascade.

    The silver brook […] pours the white cascade.

    More examples (1)

    In the first week of May, Sharp began his summit push. He scaled the North Col, an ice cascade riddled with gaping crevasses, and established a camp at about 25,920 feet, where tents often must be pitched at 45-degree angles. But when he awoke on the third morning, it was snowing and extremely windy, and Sharp decided to abandon the attempt.

  2. A stream or sequence of a thing or things occurring as if falling like a cascade.

    Usage
    • Figurative
    Examples

    The bride carried a cascade of roses and baby's breath.

    Non-stop violence, they feed us cascades / of non-believers dying in the sand.

    More examples (2)

    2001, Richard Restak, The Secret Life of the Brain, Joseph Henry Press The rise in serotonin levels sets off a cascade of chemical events

    Provision was made for this cascade of units when TfL [Transport for London] exercised an option in its order for Class 710s from Bombardier for an extra 6x5-car units and 3x4-car units: these would be used on the North London line and release '378s' for the East London line.

  3. A series of electrical (or other types of) components, the output of any one being connected to the input of the next.

  4. A pattern typically performed with an odd number of props, where each prop is caught by the opposite hand.

  5. A sequence of absurd short messages posted to a newsgroup by different authors, each one responding to the most recent message and quoting the entire sequence to that point (with ever-increasing indentation).

    Usage
    • Internet
    Examples

    Don't you hate cascades? I hate cascades!

    Spark a usenet cascade of no less than 300 replies.

    More examples (1)

    Anyway. I didn't mean to say that everyone who posts URLs is bad and wrong and should lose their breathing privileges. Just that I was getting weary of look-at-this-link posts, sort of like some people get sick of cascades.

  6. A hairpiece for women consisting of curled locks or a bun attached to a firm base, used to create the illusion of fuller hair.

    Examples

    A cascade can be added to one or both sides of the band to work well with longer hair.

  7. A series of reactions in which the product of one becomes a reactant in the next

Verb

  1. To fall as a waterfall or series of small waterfalls.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High are currently suspended, following a 30-metre breach of the Union Canal that occurred on August 12 after torrential rain and thunderstorms. The thousands of gallons of water that cascaded onto the railway line below washed away track, ballast and overhead line equipment, and undermined embankments along a 300-metre section of Scotland's busiest rail link.

  2. To arrange in a stepped series like a waterfall.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    No matter how you tile or cascade the windows, each window's Minimize, Maximize, and Restore buttons work as usual.

  3. To occur as a causal sequence.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    Child folders inherit the configuration of their parent folder, meaning that configuration settings cascade down through an application's virtual folder hierarchy.

  4. To pass (something) down through a chain or system in a flow or series of movements.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Relief arrived at Cardiff Canton depot on 1 September in the shape of the first of 12 Class 170 units cascaded from Greater Anglia.

    More examples (1)

    The railways have long cascaded stock from flagship routes to less prestigious services, and then eventually the backwaters of the network. In the past, they may even have passed into storage, ready to be dispatched to bolster routes to the coast, such as on summer Saturdays.

  5. To vomit.

    Usage
    • Archaic
    • Slang
    Examples

    Then he began to choke. The next thing I knew, he cascaded onto my new carpet.

Noun

  1. a small waterfall or series of small waterfalls

    Broader terms
  2. a succession of stages or operations or processes or units

    Broader terms
    Examples

    progressing in severity as though a cascade of genetic damage was occurring

    separation of isotopes by a cascade of processes

  3. a sudden downpour (as of tears or sparks etc.) likened to a rain shower

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    a little shower of rose petals

    a sudden cascade of sparks

Verb

  1. rush down in big quantities, like a cascade

    Synonyms
  2. arrange (open windows) on a computer desktop so that they overlap each other, with the title bars visible

    Broader terms
Word forms
cascadescascadescascadingcascadedcascaded

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