1. [n]  a sudden downpour (as of tears or sparks etc) likened to a rain shower; "a little shower of rose petals"; "a sudden cascade of sparks"
2. [n]  a succession of stages or operations or processes or units; "progressing in severity as though a cascade of genetic damage was occurring"; "separation of isotopes by a cascade of processes"
3. [n]  a small waterfall or series of small waterfalls
4. [v]  arrange (open windows) on a computer desktop so that they overlap each other, with the title bars visible
5. [v]  rush down in big quantities, like a cascade

1. \Cas*cade"\, n. [F. cascade, fr. It. cascata, fr.
   cascare to ball.]
   A fall of water over a precipice, as in a river or brook; a
   waterfall less than a cataract.
   
         The silver brook . . . pours the white cascade.
                                                  --Longjellow.
   
         Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascade. --Cawper.
   
   

2. \Cas*cade"\, v. i.
   1. To fall in a cascade. --Lowell.
   
   2. To vomit. [Slang] --Smollett.
   
   

1. A huge volume of spurious error-messages output by a compiler with poor error recovery. Too frequently, one trivial syntax error (such as a missing ")" or "}") throws the parser out of synch so that much of the remaining program text, whether correct or not, is interpreted as garbaged or ill-formed.

2. A chain of usenet followups, each adding some trivial variation or riposte to the text of the previous one, all of which is reproduced in the new message; an include war in which the object is to create a sort of communal graffito.

3. A collection of interconneced networking devices, typically hubs, that allows those devices to act together as a logical repeater.

[jargon file]

1. An entire series of reactions which occurs as a result of a single trigger reaction or compound.
2. A stream segment with a stepped series of drops characterized by exposed rocks and boulders, high gradient, swift current and much turbulence.