curtain: Meaning and Definition of

cur•tain

Pronunciation: (kûr'tn), [key]
— n.
  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. a window shade.
  4. an 8:30 curtain.
    1. a set of hanging drapery for concealing all or part of the stage or set from the view of the audience.
    2. the act or time of raising or opening a curtain at the start of a performance:an 8:30 curtain.
    3. the end of a scene or act indicated by the closing or falling of a curtain:first-act curtain.
    4. an effect, line, or plot solution at the conclusion of a performance:a strong curtain; weak curtain.
    5. music signaling the end of a radio or television performance.
    6. (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. a relatively flat or featureless extent of wall between two pavilions or the like.
  7. the part of a wall or rampart connecting two bastions, towers, or the like.
  8. the end; death, esp. by violence: It looked like curtains for another mobster.
  9. to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.
    1. to bring to a close:to draw the curtain on a long career of public service.
    2. to keep secret.
  10. to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.
    1. to commence; start.
    2. to make known or public; disclose:to lift the curtain on a new scientific discovery.
—v.t.
  1. to provide, shut off, conceal, or adorn with, or as if with, a curtain.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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