curtain

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“
Mr. Snivel has brought her here as an atonement for past injuries Just as the curtain is about to rise, Mr. McArthur, true to his word, may be seen toddling to the stage door, his treasure carefully tied up in a handkerchief.

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Definitions (44)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. noun Material that hangs in a window or other opening as a decoration, shade, or screen.
  2. noun Something that functions as or resembles a screen, cover, or barrier: the curtain of mist before the mountain; a heavy curtain of artillery fire.
  3. noun The movable screen or drape in a theater or hall that separates the stage from the auditorium or that serves as a backdrop.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

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Examples (50)

  • From outside, the curtain was an illusion of rock, perfectly concealing its nature. —  Serpents's Silver
  • On the other side of the curtain was a large chamber cut out of the rock of the mountain and brightly lit with torches set in the wall at frequent intervals. —  Trillium 05 - Lady of the Trillium by Marion Zimmer Bradley (v1.0) (html).html
  • To move a curtain was a much larger concern for the blind. —  Omni: March 1994
  • When push comes to shove, when the day of reckoning approaches, when the curtain is about to fall, the man-at-the-top has one supreme responsibility—to keep his troops from falling apart. —  Going for the Gold - Emma Lathen - Thatcher 18
  • In these otherwise frustrating riddles, the author's brusque and playful closing of the curtain is the reader's greatest reward. —  AHMM,July-August2007
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

carpet ·  drapery ·  gown ·  veil ·  cloth ·  blanket ·  skirt ·  fabric ·  cloud ·  cover ·  furniture ·  cushion

Used in the same contextWord Family

curtain:   curtained ·  curtains
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English cortine, from Old French, from Late Latin cōrtīna, from Latin cōrs, cōrt-, variant of cohors, court; see court.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also curtine, courtin, courtain, córtine, cortaine; from Middle English curteyn, corteyn, more correctly curtyn, cortyn, from Old French curtine, cortine = Provencal Spanish Portuguese Italian cortina, a curtain, from Middle Latin cortina, a small court, croft, curtain of a castle, a cloth screen, diminutive of cortis, a court: see court, n.
  2. Early modern English also cortine, corten; from Middle English cortinen, cortynen, curtain; from the noun.
 

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/ˈkərtən/
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