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.
-
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.
-
To commence or close a performance.
To drop the curtain, to end the tale, or close the performance.
Usage examples of "to drop the curtain".
And here it was my intention to draw the veil, or more correctly speaking, to drop the curtain and to balk the necessity of my friends by giving no further record of the proceedings of that delicious night.
Directly below them lay the shattered ruins of a miner's box, evidence of a futile attempt to drop the curtain wall by tunneling beneath it.
Someone had had the presence of mind to drop the curtain, but behind it were a dozen people in various stages of hysteria.