curtain

[ kur-tn ]

noun

1. a hanging piece of fabric used to shut out the light from a window, adorn a room, increase privacy, etc.

   Synonyms: valance, lambrequin, portiere, drapery

2. a movable or folding screen used for similar purposes.
3. Chiefly New England. a window shade.
4. Theater.
   1. a set of hanging drapery for concealing all or part of the stage or set from the view of the audience.
   2. the act or time of raising or opening a curtain at the start of a performance:

      an 8:30 curtain.

   3. the end of a scene or act indicated by the closing or falling of a curtain:

      first-act curtain.

   4. an effect, line, or plot solution at the conclusion of a performance:

      a strong curtain; weak curtain.

   5. music signaling the end of a radio or television performance.
   6. (used as a direction in a script of a play to indicate that a scene or act is concluded.)
5. anything that shuts off, covers, or conceals:

   a curtain of artillery fire.

6. Architecture. a relatively flat or featureless extent of wall between two pavilions or the like.
7. Fortification. the part of a wall or rampart connecting two bastions, towers, or the like.
8. curtains, Slang. the end; death, especially by violence:

   It looked like curtains for another mobster.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide, shut off, conceal, or adorn with, or as if with, a curtain.

curtain

/ ˈkɜːtən /

noun

1. a piece of material that can be drawn across an opening or window, to shut out light or to provide privacy
2. a barrier to vision, access, or communication

   a curtain of secrecy

3. a hanging cloth or similar barrier for concealing all or part of a theatre stage from the audience
4. the curtain
   the curtain the end of a scene of a play, opera, etc, marked by the fall or closing of the curtain
5. the rise or opening of the curtain at the start of a performance

verb

1. trsometimes foll byoff to shut off or conceal with or as if with a curtain
2. tr to provide (a window, etc) with curtains

Other Words From

• curtain·less adjective
• un·curtained adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of curtain¹

1250–1300; Middle English co ( u ) rtine < Anglo-French, Old French < Late Latin cortīna, probably equivalent to co ( ho ) rt- (stem of cohors; court ) + -īna -ine ¹, as calque of Greek aulaía curtain, derivative of aulḗ courtyard

Word History and Origins

Origin of curtain¹

C13: from Old French courtine, from Late Latin cortīna enclosed place, curtain, probably from Latin cohors courtyard

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. draw the curtain on / over,
   1. to bring to a close:

      to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.

   2. to keep secret.
2. lift the curtain on,
   1. to commence; start.
   2. to make known or public; disclose:

      to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.

More idioms and phrases containing curtain

• draw the curtain
• raise the curtain
• ring down the curtain

Synonym Study

Curtain, blind, shade, shutter agree in being covers for a window, to shut out light or keep persons from looking in. Curtain, blind, and shade may mean a cover, usually of cloth, which can be rolled up and down inside the window. Curtain, however, may also refer to a drapery at a window; and a Venetian blind consists of slats mounted on tapes for drawing up or down and varying the pitch of the slats. Blind and shutter may mean a cover made of two wooden frames with movable slats, attached by hinges outside a window and pulled together or opened at will. Shutters may mean also a set of panels (wooden or iron) put up outside small shops or stores at closing time

Example Sentences

After the curtain calls, Christopher comes back to explain a complicated math problem.

From The Daily Beast

They keep their heads low while running behind a large curtain covering the opening between two housing blocks.

From The Daily Beast

For anyone who cared to watch, the event and its denouement provided a graphic demonstration that the Iron Curtain was crumbling.

From The Daily Beast

The last time a Pope addressed the parliament in Strasbourg was in 1988 when an Iron Curtain still divided the continent.

From The Daily Beast

The insurrectionists seemed actors in a surreal episode of revolutionary play-acting in which the curtain was about to fall.

From The Daily Beast

She walked away toward another door, which was masked with a curtain that she lifted.

From Project Gutenberg

I seized the opportunity to watch what I supposed would be a most interesting interview, from behind a curtain.

From Project Gutenberg

She thrust a bare, white arm from the curtain which shielded her open door, and received the cup from his hands.

From Project Gutenberg

We haven't even seen a review of the piece; the footlights go up with a jump, and now the curtain rises.

From Project Gutenberg

The overture is over, the curtain is about to rise on the drama of Georgie's married life.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• decoration
• drape
• drapery
• screen
• shade
• shroud
• shutter
• veil