purdah

Noun

purdah (countable and uncountable, plural purdahs)

1. (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, South-Asia) A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers.
   • As she passed through the dining-room she heard, behind the purdah that cloaked the drawing-room door, her husband's voice, […]1909, Rudyard Kipling, “A Wayside Comedy”, in Under the Deodars (The Works of Rudyard Kipling), Edinburgh de Luxe edition, Boston, Mass.; London: The Edinburgh Society, →OCLC, page 64
   • "Come and see my wife a little then," said Hamidullah, and they spent twenty minutes behind the purdah.1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter II, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part I (Mosque), page 11
2. (broadly, countable) A long veil or other attire covering most of the body, worn by women in some Muslim societies.
3. (broadly, uncountable) The situation or system of secluding women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers, in some Muslim and Hindu traditions, by using a curtain or screen, and/or wearing a face veil or attire covering most of the body.
   • He was won by her love for him, by a loyalty that implied something more than submission, and by her efforts to educate herself against that lifting of the purdah that would come in the next generation if not in theirs.1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VI, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part I (Mosque), page 53
4. (broadly, figuratively, uncountable) Keeping apart; isolation, seclusion; also, concealment, secrecy.
   • The diagnosis of Kit's malady was soon verified, and Fleur went into purdah.1928 July, John Galsworthy, “Measles”, in Swan Song, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, part II, page 143
   • Still, though the lettrist movement was not casual—members might be fined, put in purdah, or even expelled for malingering—aesthetic pluralism remained in effect.1989, Greil Marcus, “Version 2: A Secret History of a Time that Passed”, in Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 277
5. (UK, broadly, countable) The period between the announcement of an election or referendum and its conclusion, during which civil servants refrain from making policy announcements or taking actions that could be seen as advantageous to certain candidates in the election.
   • Despite Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris's reassurance that "the White Paper is coming" it was further delayed by the period of purdah that preceded local elections held on May 6.2021 June 2, “Network News: ‘Root and Branch’ Review Three Years in the Making”, in Rail, number 932, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10
6. (broadly, obsolete, rare, uncountable) A striped cotton cloth which is used to make curtains.