Curtain

Pronunciation

• enPR: kû(r)'tÉ™n, IPA: /ˈkɜː(r)tÉ™n/Mo
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)tÉ™n

Origin

From Old French cortine, from Latin cortina.

Full definition of curtain

Noun

1. A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.
2. A similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.
• 1905, w, w:The Case of Miss Elliott Chapter 2, “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. …”
3. (fortifications) The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.
• 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1, p. 220:Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, ... caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles ...
4. (euphemistic, also "final curtain") death
• 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of LifeFor life is quite absurdAnd death's the final wordYou must always face the curtain with a bow.
5. (architecture) That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
6. (obsolete, derogatory) A flag; an ensign.

Related terms

• curtain call
• final curtain

Verb

1. To cover (a window) with a curtain; to hang curtains.