Curtain

//ˈkɜːtn̩// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.

    "He drew the curtains at 11:00pm before falling asleep."

  2. 2
    hanging cloth used as a blind (especially for a window) wordnet
  3. 3
    A similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.

    "“H'm !” he said, “so, so—it is a tragedy in a prologue and three acts. I am going down this afternoon to see the curtain fall for the third time on what[…]will prove a good burlesque ; but it all began dramatically enough. It was last Saturday[…]that two boys, playing in the little spinney just outside Wembley Park Station, came across three large parcels done up in American cloth.[…]”"

  4. 4
    any barrier to communication or vision wordnet
  5. 5
    The beginning of a show; the moment the curtain rises. broadly

    "He took so long to shave his head that we arrived 45 minutes after curtain and were denied late entry."

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  1. 6
    The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.

    "Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, […] caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles […]."

  2. 7
    Death, final curtain. euphemistic, in-plural, sometimes

    "For life is quite absurd / And death's the final word / You must always face the curtain with a bow."

  3. 8
    That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
  4. 9
    A flag; an ensign. derogatory, obsolete

    "Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose"

  5. 10
    The uninterrupted stream of fluid that falls onto a moving substrate in the process of curtain coating.
Verb
  1. 1
    To cover (a window) with a curtain; to hang curtains. transitive

    "In a large bedroom upstairs, the window of which was thickly curtained with a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady, Mrs. Rolliver, were gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons, all seeking vinous bliss; all old inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott, and frequenters of this retreat."

  2. 2
    provide with drapery wordnet
  3. 3
    To hide, cover or separate as if by a curtain. figuratively, transitive

    "And, after conflict such as was supposed / The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd, / When with a happy storm they were surprised / And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave, / We may, each wreathed in the other's arms, / Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;"

Etymology

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English curtine, from Old French cortine, from Late Latin cōrtīna (“curtain”), a calque from Ancient Greek.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English curtine, from Old French cortine, from Late Latin cōrtīna (“curtain”), a calque from Ancient Greek.

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