raise the curtain
Idioms-
Also, lift the curtain.
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Begin or start, as in It's time to raise the curtain, guys—start shoveling .
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Make something public, disclose. In this sense, both terms often occur with on , as in We won't know what the new design is until they lift the curtain on it . Both usages, from the mid-1700s, allude to the curtain raised at the beginning of a theatrical performance, revealing the stage.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Let’s raise the curtain on 15 things that stirred us:
From Golf Digest • Mar. 26, 2020
“A lot of actors throw aside caution and reveal their innermost being, only to raise the curtain on a void. Cassel makes Moskowitz into a convincing, dedicated, pure crazy Romantic.”
From Washington Post • Apr. 9, 2019
So this is an excellent time to raise the curtain on the N.F.L. and its injury data results.
From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2017
In June of 2006, Cirque du Soleil was preparing to raise the curtain on the company’s latest production, “Love,” built around the music and, loosely, the life stories of the Beatles.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2016
Gesturing to the short-haired woman to raise the curtain, he strode to the exact center of the stage and took elaborate bows as the curtain came up.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
