curtin

Noun

curtain (plural curtains)

1. (household) A piece of cloth covering a window, bed, etc. to offer privacy and keep out light.
   • He drew the curtains at 11:00pm before falling asleep.
2. A similar piece of cloth that separates the audience and the stage in a theater.
   • “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...1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Lisson Grove Mystery”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London...
3. (broadly) The beginning of a show; the moment the curtain rises.
   • He took so long to shave his head that we arrived 45 minutes after curtain and were denied late entry.
4. The flat area of wall which connects two bastions or towers; the main area of a fortified wall.
   • Captain Rense, beleagring the Citie of Errona for us, […] caused a forcible mine to be wrought under a great curtine of the walles […]., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.220
5. (euphemistic, in plural, sometimes) Death, final curtain.
   • For life is quite absurd / And death's the final word / You must always face the curtain with a bow.1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
6. That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.

See all 11 meanings of curtain