The season just before the beginning of the Western Christian season of Lent.

Alternative form of carnival; especially in the sense "any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent."

Any of a number of festivals held just before the beginning of Lent.

A festive occasion marked by parades and sometimes special foods and other entertainment.

(US) A traveling amusement park, called a funfair in British English.

(sociology) A context in which transgression or inversion of the social order is given temporary license. Derived from the work of w:Mikhail Bakhtin.