Crossword clues for curtain
curtain
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Curtain \Cur"tain\ (k[^u]r"t[i^]n; 48), n. [OE.cortin, curtin,fr. OF. cortine, curtine, F. courtine, LL. cortina, curtian (in senses 1 and 2), also, small court, small inclosure surrounded by walls, from cortis court. See Court.]
A hanging screen intended to darken or conceal, and admitting of being drawn back or up, and reclosed at pleasure; esp., drapery of cloth or lace hanging round a bed or at a window; in theaters, and like places, a movable screen for concealing the stage.
(Fort.) That part of the rampart and parapet which is between two bastions or two gates. See Illustrations of Ravelin and Bastion.
(Arch.) That part of a wall of a building which is between two pavilions, towers, etc.
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A flag; an ensign; -- in contempt. [Obs.] --Shak. Behind the curtain, in concealment; in secret. Curtain lecture, a querulous lecture given by a wife to her husband within the bed curtains, or in bed. --Jerrold. A curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. --W. Irving. The curtain falls, the performance closes. The curtain rises, the performance begins. To draw the curtain, to close it over an object, or to remove it; hence:
To hide or to disclose an object.
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To commence or close a performance.
To drop the curtain, to end the tale, or close the performance.
Curtain \Cur"tain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Curtained (k[^u]r"t[i^]nd; 48); p. pr. & vb. n. Curtaining.] To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains.
So when the sun in bed
Curtained with cloudy red.
--Milton.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1300, from Old French cortine "curtain, tapestry, drape, blanket," from Late Latin cortina "curtain," but in classical Latin "round vessel, cauldron," from Latin cortem (older cohortem) "enclosure, courtyard" (see cohort). The confusion apparently begins in using cortina as a loan-translation for Greek aulaia ("curtain") in the Vulgate (to render Hebrew yeriah in Exodus xxvi:1, etc.) because the Greek word was connected to aule "court," perhaps because the "door" of a Greek house that led out to the courtyard was a hung cloth. The figurative sense in curtain call is from 1884. Curtains "the end" is 1912, originally from stage plays. An Old English word for "curtain" was fleonet "fly-net."
Wiktionary
n. 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. vb. To cover (a window) with a curtain; to hang curtains.
WordNet
v. provide with drapery; "curtain the bedrooms"
Wikipedia
A curtain (sometimes known as a drape, mainly in the United States) is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. A curtain is also the movable screen or drape in a theater that separates the stage from the auditorium or that serves as a backdrop.
Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières. Curtains are often hung on the inside of a building's windows to block the passage of light, for instance at night to aid sleeping, or to stop light from escaping outside the building (stopping people outside from being able to see inside, often for privacy reasons). In this application, they are also known as "draperies". Curtains come in a variety of shapes, materials, sizes, colors and patterns, and they often have their own sections within department stores, while some shops are completely dedicated to selling curtains.
Curtains vary according to cleanability, ultraviolet light deterioration, oil and dust retention, noise absorption, fire resistance, and life span. Curtains may be moved by hand, with cords, by press-button pads or remote-controlled computers. They are held out of the way of the window by means of curtain tie-backs. Measuring curtain sizes needed for each window varies greatly according to the type of curtain needed, window size, and type and weight of curtain.
Curtains are a form of window treatment, and complete the overall appearance of the house. Window treatment helps control the ambiance and flow of natural light into the room. The effect of drapery or curtains is best seen in daylight, and with proper indoor light positioning, can look attractive even at night.
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1975 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year, selling for $7.95.
The novel features Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings in their final appearances in Christie's works. It is a country house novel, with all the characters and the murder set in one house. Not only does the novel return the characters to the setting of her first, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, but it reunites Poirot and Hastings, who last appeared together in Dumb Witness in 1937. It was adapted for television in 2013.
It is the last novel published by Christie before her death, although Sleeping Murder, published posthumously, is her final novel. Neither was the last novel written by Christie.
Curtain is a poem by Helen Spalding which talks about the separation of two young lovers during World War II. The poem is set in the period of 1930-1946 against a turbulent, socio-political background. The separation is mutually imposed by the pair, who are called two ghosts, two Hamlets, and two soliloquies in the final stanza of the poem.
The poem consists of four stanzas, all about 20 lines. It starts with the word Goodbye, and the first stanza ends with the same word. A number of poetic devices are used in the poem, including a transferred epithet for "desolate sea", and collocation for "clinic heart".
The poem was also the prescribed portion in the AISSCE ( CBSE 12th - India).
Usage examples of "curtain".
StregaSchloss on the end of a moth-eaten damask curtain was a bad idea, or maybe the sight of the Borgia money going to such an undeserving home had simply robbed the estate lawyer of the will to live, but miraculously his abseiling suicide attempt didnt kill him.
I found a corner of the glass door before which there was no curtain, and on applying my eye to the place I saw my young adventurer holding his conquest in his arms on the bed.
Backing out through the curtain, Alec dumped the contents of the mortar into a parchment cone and hurried out past the crowd that had gathered in the street.
The darkest corner was the bedroom, which had a platform of stone on which rugs were spread, and there was a lower mound of dried mud, roughly curtained off from the rest with two or three red and blue foutahs suspended on ropes made of twisted alfa, or dried grass.
Any lingering thought Amrita and I had of spending Saturday night out on the town was squelched by the sight of mud, monsoon, and squatting misery we would glimpse when we opened the curtains.
More carpets covered the floors, and in a curtained recess, a large angareb bed was spread with golden leopard skins dappled with black rosettes.
They left the dark upper corners of the human quarters where, mourning the loss of Billy Anker and his girl, they had clung in loose temporary skeins like cobwebs in the folds of an old curtain.
The archway which led into the apse to the right of the well was curtained by falls of fine black plastic mesh.
Pandaras shouted and ran, flinging himself in a furious panic through the black mesh curtains which divided the apse from the main part of the temple.
On the far side of the apse, the curtain of black mesh stirred as someone pushed it aside.
He was repeating it for a third time when the black mesh curtain which divided the right-hand apse from the atrium was struck aside.
At a nod from the baron, Arga went to the window and dragged apart the thick curtains, letting in beams of dusty daylight.
It had started to rain, an evil sleet running in curtains across the slippery autobahn, and the mesmeric effect of the windshield wipers almost sent him to sleep.
In the end Axel wiped his hands on his apron and poured a cup of ale, sending it over with the boy, who peered at Julian hopefully from behind a curtain of sleek brown hair.
A curtain wall surrounded the bawn, as the castle courtyard is known in Ireland, and stables and outhouses had been built inside the enclosed perimeter.