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n. 1. A waterfall or a series of small waterfalls over steep rocks. 2. Something, such as lace, thought to resemble a waterfall or series of small waterfalls, especially an arrangement or fall of material. 3. A heavy, uncontrolled outpouring: a cascade of abusive comments. 4. a. A succession of stages, processes, operations, or units. b. Electronics A series of components or networks, the output of each of which serves as the input for the next. c. A chemical or physiological process that occurs in successive stages, each of which is dependent on the preceding one, and often producing a cumulative effect: an enzymatic cascade. v. cas·cad·ed, cas·cad·ing, cas·cades v.intr. 1. To fall in or as if in a cascade: "Morning glory vines ... cascaded over old-fashioned bamboo lattices" (Mary Yukari Waters). 2. To occur in a sequence or successive stages: circumstances that cascaded into a crisis. v.tr. 1. To cause to fall in or as if in a cascade: cascaded the ingredients into the bowl. 2. To cause to occur in a sequence or successive stages: wholesale price reductions that are cascaded down to the consumer. [French, from Italian cascata, from cascare, to fall, from Vulgar Latin *casicāre, from Latin cadere; see kad- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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