A number of words share the inflected ending -ade, which denotes an action or something that performs an action or function. The following comprehensive but not exhaustive list includes definitions of forty such words (and the meaning of each root word).
1. accolade (“embrace”): an award, praise, or ceremonial embrace or salute
2. ambuscade (“in forest”): an ambush
3. arcade (“arch”): an arched building, gallery, avenue, or passageway, or series of arches, or a business where coin-operated games are played
4. balustrade (“small pillar”): a row of vertical balusters, or railing supports, topped by a railing, or a low barrier
5. barricade (“barrel”): a barrier or obstacle, especially one built up to deter an enemy (also a verb meaning “block” or “prevent access”)
6. blockade (“block”): blocking of access or egress by military force (also a verb meaning “block to prevent access or egress by military force,” or simply “block” or “obstruct”)
7. brigade (“troop”): a large subdivision of an army
8. brocade (“little nail”): silk fabric with gold or silver weaved in (also a verb meaning “weave gold or silver with silk”)
9. cannonade (“tube”): a discharge of cannon
10. carronade (proper name Carron): a short cannon
11. cascade (“fall”): a waterfall, especially one in a series, or arrangement or occurrence of a succession of stages, or something falling or rushing (also a verb meaning “fall, pour, or rush in or as if in a cascade”)
12. cavalcade (“horse”): a parade of troops or other people mounted on horses, or simply a parade
13. charade (“chat”): a deceptive or empty act, or nonwritten clues about a word; charades is a game in which players try to guess a word or phrase represented by another player’s actions
14. chiffonade (“crumple”): finely cut or shredded herbs or vegetables
15. colonnade (“column”): a series of regularly spaced supporting columns
16. crusade (“cross”): a series of military expeditions to assert the influence of Christian nations in the Middle East (capitalized when referred to as “the Crusades”), or an enthusiastic effort to solve a problem (as a verb, meaning “engage in a crusade”)
17. decade (“ten”): a period of ten years, a group or set of ten, or a 10-to-1 order of magnitude
18. enfilade (“thread”): gunfire along the length of an enemy line of battle, or a series of rooms (as a verb, “fire along the length of a line of battle”)
19. escalade (“ladder”): an act of scaling fortification walls (also a verb meaning “scale fortification walls”)
20. escapade (“escape”): an unapproved or unconventional adventure
21. esplanade (“level”): an expanse of level ground, especially for walking or driving along a shore
22. facade (“face”): a front of a building, or any surface given special architectural treatment; also, an artificial or false appearance or effect
23. fanfaronade (“braggart”): bluster
24. fusillade (“steel for striking fire”): simultaneous or rapidly consecutive firing or throwing of projectiles, or a critical outburst
25. gasconade (“Gascon,” a person of Basque heritage): a boast or bluster
26. glissade (“slide”): a standing or squatting slide down a snowy slope, or a gliding ballet step (also a verb meaning, in either sense, “perform a glissade”)
27. harlequinade (“clown”): pantomime or play featuring the comic-relief stock commedia dell’arte character Harlequin
28. lemonade (“lemon”): a beverage made with lemonade, water, and a sweetener (also, limeade, orangeade, etc.)
29. marinade (“liquid”): a flavoring and/or tenderizing sauce (also a verb meaning “flavor and/or tenderize with sauce”)
30. marmalade (“quince”): jelly with pieces of fruit and fruit rind
31. masquerade (“mask”): a costume party or a costume for such a party, or an action or appearance designed to mislead (also a verb meaning “disguise” or “pretend”)
32. motorcade (“move”): a procession of vehicles
33. palisade (“stake”): a long, pointed stake, or a fence made of such stakes, or a line of cliffs resembling one
34. parade (“prepare”): a procession or ceremonial formation, a location for such a formation or for strolling, or a showy display (also a verb meaning “maneuver,” “march,” or “stroll” or “show off”)
35. pomade (“apple”): a perfumed hair treatment or other ointment
36. promenade (“stroll”): a stroll or a place for strolling, a ceremonial march at a formal dance, or a square dance figure (also a verb meaning “stroll”); the abbreviation prom refers to a dance event
37. renegade (“deny”): one who changes allegiance or who does not follow traditional behavior
38. serenade (“calm”): a courting song, or, in general, a free performance, or a song presented as such, or an instrumental composition in several movements
39. stockade (“stake”): a tall fence for defense or enclosure (also a verb meaning “fortify” or “surround”)
40. tirade (“shoot”): a long, angry speech
Ballad (originally ballade, meaning “dance”), meaning “romantic or sentimental song,” or “narrative rhymed verse,” is in this category of terms. Also, words ending in -ado denote a person performing an action, as seen, for example, in commando and desperado, or an active phenomenon, such as in the case of tornado.
Crusade (“cross”): a series of military expeditions to assert the influence of [the] Christian nations in [Palestine] (capitalized when referred to as “the Crusades”)…
Dwight Eisenhower wrote his memoirs of World War II, and its title is “Crusade in Europe”.
A man who engages in a Crusade is a “Crusader”, and there was a noteworthy jet fighter of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps called the F-8U Crusader. It was flown much in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the War in Vietnam.
The area of the world covering Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, etc., was not called the “Middle East” until much later on (circa 1940), and then only by accident. The “Middle East” used to have a much more sensible meaning: INDIA and its neighbors, and India included the present countries of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Bangladesh, and Burma. In about 1940, the British Army moved a major combat command from India to Southwest Asia/Northwest Africa, and it absurdly kept its same name (the Middle-Eastern Command).
From the point-of-view of Britain and Ireland, there use to be a sensible classification of regions: the Near East: Southwest Asia/Northwest Africa; the Middle East: India, Afghanistan, Persia; and the Far East: the Orient and Southeast Asia.
Very organized, very sensible!
Thus, if you made a trip to the Near East, you might go to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Amman, Aswan, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Khartoum. If you made a trip to the Middle East, you might go to Agra, Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Dacca, Delhi, Kabul, Kandy, Karachi.
If you made a trip to the Far East, you might go to many places:
Bangkok, Batavia (Djakarta), Canton, Chungking, Edo (Tokyo), Hanoi, Hong Kong, Kyoto, Manila, Nanking, Osaka, Peking, Saigon, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Ulan Bator, Yokohama.
John H. Glenn set the coast-to-coast speed record in the late 1950s by flying an F-8U Crusader from San Diego to Jacksonville, Fla., at an average speed faster than the speed of sound. “Average” is important because he had to slow down several times for air-to-air refueling (something that is not done at supersonic speeds).
Glenn’s record has been broken many times since then, including in a Navy F-4 Phantom II, an Air Force B-58 Hustler from Los Angeles to New York City, and an Air Force SR-71 from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. In the latter flight, the SR-71 set the record for St. Louis to Cincinnati in eight minutes flat (!), and it also set the records for Los Angeles to St. Louis and Cincinnati to Washington.
Colonel Glenn won the Distinguished Flying Cross four times: twice for combat during WW II and the Korean War; once for his transcontinental flight; and once for his spaceflight in “Friendship 7”.
The B-58 Hustler also set the speed records for nonstop flights from Los Angeles to London, and for New York to London.
The SR-71 and its “twin” the YF-12A still hold more speed records (for air-breathing airplanes) than can be easily counted.
There is a closely-related word in Spanish: “Embarcadero”. That is a place for getting aboard and getting off of ships.
The world-famous Embarcaderos are all in California: in San Francisco, San Diego, and Oakland.
I will leave it up to you to find an “Embarcadero” in Spain, the Caribbean Islands, Florida, Texas, Mexico, Africa, Argentina, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, Santa Domingo, Uruguay, Venezuela, etc.
The Embarcaderos of San Francisco and Oakland were LONG known for there ferries across San Francisco Bay.
There used to be an (old) Embarcadero Freeway in that neighborhood of San Francisco. It was heavy damaged in the “World Series” earthquake of 1989, and then it was completely demolished in 1991, rather than being rebuilt.
That is called the “World Series” earthquake because in 1989, the World Series of baseball was between the teams from San Francisco and Oakland, and the earthquake hit on what was supposed to be the first day of the World Series (!). Hence, gathered for the baseball game were the Goodyear Blimp and numerous helicopters, and they showed live TV coverage of the earthquake and its (fiery) aftermath, rather than a mere baseball game. I saw it on TV in Washington, D.C.
There are several negative words that end in “ade” , including retrograde, degrade, and stockade, where the stockade is a place for military imprisonment and punishment, just as are the blockhouse, the bunker, the brig, and the icehouse.
As for the latter, inside of P.O.W. camps, even the Nazi German guards called it “the cooler”, just like their English-speaking prisoners did. Also, the German word “Kuhler” (with an umlaut) means the same thing.
@Mark: Very nice list. Might have considered flagging for pronunciation, as some endings are with long A (e.g. lemonade) and some with wide (?) A (as in ahhh; e.g. facade). Mainly for ESL folks reading DWT posts.
An esplanade (at a seaport) is a good place to look for an embarcadero. Also, esplanades have been good places to build airports, and you will find these at such places as San Diego, Los Angeles (several), San Francisco, Tacoma, Vancouver, Boston, New York City, Norfolk, Tampa, Amsterdam — and also on Pacific and Caribbean islands more than can easily be counted, built during World War II, on island with names and locations ranging from Antigua and Anguar to Woleai and Yap.
I do not know if there is any connections between these words:
embarcadero, Atascadero, and bandolero, but they are all associated with the times of Spanish-speaking California – under the Spanish Empire and then under Mexico.
Atascadero is also noted for being a location in the film “Terminator 2”. “Sarah Conner” was held prisoner in a high-security mental hospital there, and she was “busted out” by the future governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. In reality, this was inspired by the fact that in Atascadero, there has long been a state hospital for criminally insane men – but not for women.
There used to be another one in Ventura County (Southern California), but that one has long been closed down. It was demolished, and the land is now the location of the California State University – Channel Islands (!).