1540s, "time of merrymaking before Lent," from French carnaval, from Italian carnevale "Shrove Tuesday," from older Italian forms such as Milanese *carnelevale, Old Pisan carneleva [..]

season in the Christian religion with many parties.

traveling show with games, performances, and food.

To dream that you are participating in a carnival, portends that you are soon to enjoy some unusual pleasure or recreation. A carnival when masks are used, or when incongruous or clownish figures are seen, implies discord in the home; business will be unsatisfactory and love unrequited.   

Literal meaning: "Flesh, farewell." The "val" ending does not derive from Latin "vale". Modern Italian "carnevale" comes from Old Italian "carnelevare" [..]

(n) a festival marked by merrymaking and processions(n) a frenetic disorganized (and often comic) disturbance suggestive of a large public entertainment(n) a traveling show; having sideshows and rides [..]

The season immediately preceding Lent; shrove-tide. Ducange gives the word carne-levale. (Modern Italian, carnovále; Spanish and French, carnaval.)

The party season before Mardi Gras. Starts on January 6 (Twelfth Night). Celebrated with king cakes at Mardi Gras parties.

season immediately preceding Lent, and observed with merrymaking.

In its general and universal sense, carnival is the great festival of life, the renewal of life in the spring and is a cultural religious celebration in many civilizations. Such festivities were natur [..]