a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
1630s, "a setting free," from Fr. émancipation, from L. emancipationem, noun of action from emancipare (see emancipate). Specifically with reference to U.S. slavery from 1785. In Britain, with reference to easing of restrictions on Catholics, etc.