curtain
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
curtain/ˈkɜːtn/
▶noun
- 1 a piece of material suspended at the top to form a screen, typically movable sideways and found as one of a pair at a window.
■ (the curtain) a screen of heavy cloth or other material that can be raised or lowered at the front of a stage.
■ a raising or lowering of the curtain at the beginning or end of an act or scene.
- 2 (curtains) informal a disastrous outcome.
■ conceal with or as with a curtain.
– origin ME: from OFr. cortine, from late L. cortina, translation of Gk aulaia, from aulē ‘court’.
'curtain' also found in these Oxford entries:
apron
- cafe curtain
- curtain call
- curtain fire
- curtain lecture
- curtain-raiser
- curtain-up
- curtain wall
- drop cloth
- drop scene
- heading
- interline
- Iron Curtain
- pelmet
- portière
- proscenium
- purdah
- ravelin
- ring
- safety curtain
- skirt
- swag
- tie-back
- track
- uncurtained
- valance
- velum
