Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Parade \Pa*rade"\, n. [F., fr. Sp. parada a halt or stopping, an
   assembling for exercise, a place where troops are assembled
   to exercise, fr. parar to stop, to prepare. See {Pare}, v.
   t.]
   1. The ground where a military display is held, or where
      troops are drilled.

   2. (Mil.) An assembly and orderly arrangement or display of
      troops, in full equipments, for inspection or evolutions
      before some superior officer; a review of troops. Parades
      are general, regimental, or private (troop, battery, or
      company), according to the force assembled.

   3. Pompous show; formal display or exhibition.

            Be rich, but of your wealth make no parade. --Swift.

   4. That which is displayed; a show; a spectacle; an imposing
      procession; the movement of any body marshaled in military
      order; as, a parade of firemen.

            In state returned the grand parade.   --Swift.

   5. Posture of defense; guard. [A Gallicism.]

            When they are not in parade, and upon their guard.
                                                  --Locke.

   6. A public walk; a promenade.

   {Dress parade}, {Undress parade}. See under {Dress}, and
      {Undress}.

   {Parade rest}, a position of rest for soldiers, in which,
      however, they are required to be silent and motionless.
      --Wilhelm.

   Syn: Ostentation; display; show.

   Usage: {Parade}, {Ostentation}. Parade is a pompous
          exhibition of things for the purpose of display;
          ostentation now generally indicates a parade of
          virtues or other qualities for which one expects to be
          honored. ``It was not in the mere parade of royalty
          that the Mexican potentates exhibited their power.''
          --Robertson. ``We are dazzled with the splendor of
          titles, the ostentation of learning, and the noise of
          victories.'' --Spectator.