Cascades

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A waterfall or set of small waterfalls ; to flow or fall downward rapidly in large amounts ; to happen or cause to happen in a sequence of stages
2. A series of descending waterfalls ; to move downward quickly in a large quantity ; to produce a chain reaction or consecutive effects
3. Multiple waterfalls appearing in succession ; to pour down heavily and continuously ; to trigger a series of connected events or processes

Etymology: The word "cascades" is simply the plural of "cascade," so the story belongs to its singular. English took "cascade" from French, where it was a loanword from Italian "cascata," and that Italian form came from "cascare," meaning "to fall." Behind that lies a Vulgar Latin verb reconstructed as "*cāsicāre," itself built on the Latin "cadere," also "to fall." The English word therefore carries the same falling motion that makes a waterfall a waterfall. The meaning moved in stages. The original sense was the plunging water itself, a stepped drop over rocks. Over time it grew into a figurative use, a rapid fall or flow of things in large numbers, and then into a verb describing something that tumbles or pours down in quantity. The sense of consecutive effects, one event setting off the next, follows the same logic: each step falls into the next, like water passing down a series of ledges.

Synonyms: waterfall, falls