Furniturea hanging piece of fabric used to shut out the light from a window, adorn a room, increase privacy, etc.
Furniturea movable or folding screen used for similar purposes.
Dialect Terms[Chiefly New Eng.]a window shade.
Show Business[Theat.]
Show Businessa set of hanging drapery for concealing all or part of the stage or set from the view of the audience.
Show Businessthe act or time of raising or opening a curtain at the start of a performance:an 8:30 curtain.
the end of a scene or act indicated by the closing or falling of a curtain:first-act curtain.
an effect, line, or plot solution at the conclusion of a performance:a strong curtain; weak curtain.
music signaling the end of a radio or television performance.
(used as a direction in a script of a play to indicate that a scene or act is concluded.)
anything that shuts off, covers, or conceals:a curtain of artillery fire.
Architecturea relatively flat or featureless extent of wall between two pavilions or the like.
[Fort.]the part of a wall or rampart connecting two bastions, towers, or the like.
Slang Termscurtains, the end; death, esp. by violence:It looked like curtains for another mobster.
Idiomsdraw the curtain on or over:
to bring to a close:to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.
to keep secret.
Idiomslift the curtain on:
to commence; start.
to make known or public; disclose:to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.
v.t.
to provide, shut off, conceal, or adorn with, or as if with, a curtain.
Late Latin cortīna, probably equivalent. to co(ho)rt- (stem of cohors; see court) + -īna -ine1, as calque of Greek aulaía curtain, derivative of aulé̄ courtyard
Anglo-French, Old French
Middle English co(u)rtine 1250–1300
cur′tain•less, adj.
1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged drapery, portiere, lambrequin, valance.
1, 3.See corresponding entry in UnabridgedCurtain,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.