Curtain

noun
1.
a hanging piece of fabric used to shut out the light from a window, adorn a room, increase privacy, etc.
2.
a movable or folding screen used for similar purposes.
3.
Chiefly New England. a window shade.
4.
Theater.

a set of hanging drapery for concealing all or part of the stage or set from the view of the audience.
the 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.)

5.
anything that shuts off, covers, or conceals:
a curtain of artillery fire.
6.
Architecture. a relatively flat or featureless extent of wall between two pavilions or the like.
7.
Fortification. the part of a wall or rampart connecting two bastions, towers, or the like.
8.
curtains, Slang. the end; death, especially by violence:
It looked like curtains for another mobster.
verb (used with object)
9.
to provide, shut off, conceal, or adorn with, or as if with, a curtain.
Idioms
10.
draw the curtain on / over,

to bring to a close:
to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.
to keep secret.

11.
lift the curtain on,

to commence; start.
to make known or public; disclose:
to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.

noun
1.
a piece of material that can be drawn across an opening or window, to shut out light or to provide privacy
2.
a barrier to vision, access, or communication: a curtain of secrecy
3.
a hanging cloth or similar barrier for concealing all or part of a theatre stage from the audience
4.
the curtain, the end of a scene of a play, opera, etc, marked by the fall or closing of the curtain
5.
the rise or opening of the curtain at the start of a performance
verb
6.
(transitive) sometimes foll by off. to shut off or conceal with or as if with a curtain
7.
(transitive) to provide (a window, etc) with curtains
curtain

Related Terms

bamboo curtain

(1.) Ten curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four wide, made of fine linen, also eleven made of goat’s hair, covered the tabernacle (Ex. 26:1-13; 36:8-17). (2.) The sacred curtain, separating the holy of holies from the sanctuary, is designated by a different Hebrew word (peroketh). It is described as a “veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work” (Ex. 26:31; Lev. 16:2; Num. 18:7). (3.) “Stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain” (Isa. 40:22), is an expression used with reference to the veil or awning which Orientals spread for a screen over their courts in summer. According to the prophet, the heavens are spread over our heads as such an awning. Similar expressions are found in Ps. 104:2l; comp. Isa. 44:24; Job 9:8.

In addition to the idioms beginning with curtain
curtain raiser