Rideau
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a file of troops, etc.
"A judgment may be formed of the weakness of the place, either by the facility found in making the approaches, or by establishing the magazines in the rear of the trenches, taking advantage of some rideau, or hollow way, whereby the right and left of the trenches are better supported. In order to judge of the facility of making the approaches, observe whether there are in the neighbourhood of the place any ditches, hollow ways, rideaus, houses, hedges, behind which the enemy may advance, and place their guards of horse and foot under cover from the fire of the place ; [...]"
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A river in eastern Ontario, Canada, a tributary of the Ottawa River. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"In a televised news conference outside his residence at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau asked Canadians to resist the temptation to let their guard down after 10 months of making sacrifices."
Etymology
Borrowed from French rideau (“curtain”), from Middle French rideau, from Old French ridel (“plaited stuff; cloth curtain; blind”), from rider (“to plait; to wrinkle”), perhaps from Old High German ridil (“a headband; a ribbon”) or rīdan, wrīdan (“to wrinkle”) (related to English writhe), from Proto-Germanic *wriþilaz, from *wrīþaną (“to twist, wind, wrap”). See more at riddle (“curtain”), writhe.
Related phrases
More for "rideau"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.